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VO YEARS liN' THE _,
-ORBIDDEN CITY 1

PRINCESS DER LINO

\ -r^

#•■

TWO YEARS IN

THE

FORBIDDEN CITY

• • ••

••••i

•••

m ^-iS^K

T/ie Princess Der Ling

{Mr, Thadd^usC. Whiu)

TWO YEARS IN

THE

FORBIDDEN CITY

rnurr ladt ik WArmro

TO TBI EMPEBI DOWAOB

IUu8trat$d from Photographs

NEW YORK
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY

1911

/A.

\ •

THE PRINCESS DER LING v •

mW TORX

AU JHgkii BiMrvtd
Pnbllfilrad October, 1911

165419

• • • • •• •

• • ••• • •

• « • • » • •

• • • • • •

• > •

TO
MY BELOVED FATHER

LORD YU KENG

FOREWORD

The author of the following narrative has pe-
culiar qualifications for her task. She is a
daughter of Lord Yii Keng, a member of the
Manchu White Banner Corps, and one of the
most advanced and progressive Chinese officials
of his generation. Lord Yii Keng entered the
army when very young, and served in the Tai-
ping rebellion and the Formosan war with
France, and as Vice Minister of War during the
China-Japan war in 1895. Later he was Min-
ister to Japan, which post he quitted in 1898 to
become President of the Tsung-li-yamen (Chi-
nese Foreign Office). In 1899 he was ap-
pointed Minister to France, where he remained
four years. At a period when the Chinese Gov-
ernment was extremely conservative and reac-
tionary, Lord Yu Keng labored indefatigably
for reform. He was instrumental in reorganiz-
ing China's postal service on modern lines, but
failed in efforts to revise the revenue system and

'»iu FOREWORD

modernize the army and navy, from being ahead
of his times, He died in 1905.

The progressive spirit of Lord Yii Keng was
shown in the education of his children. When
it became known that bis daughters were receiv-
ing a foreign education — then an almost un-
heard-of proceeding among liigh Mancbu offi-
cials — attempts were made to impeach him as
pro-foreign and revolutionary, but he was not de-
terred. His children got their early education in
missionary schools, and the daughters later at-
tended a convent in France, where the author
of this work finished her schooling and entered
society. On returning to China, she became
First Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Dow-
ager, and while serving at the Court in that ca-
pacity she received the impressions which provide
the subject-matter of this book. Her opportu-
nity to observe and estimate the characteristics
of the remarkable woman who ruled China for
so long was unique, and her narrative throws a
new light on one of the most extraordinary per-
sonalities of modern times.

While on leave from her duties to attend upon
her father, who was fatally iU in Shanghai, Prin-

FOREWORD ix

cess Der Ling took a step which terminated con-
nexion with the Chinese Court. This was her
engagement to Mr. Thaddeus C. White, an
American, to whom she was married on May 21,
1907. Yielding to the urgent solicitation of
friends, she consented to put some of her ex-
periences into literary form, and the following
chronicle, in which the most famous of Chinese
women, the customs and atmosphere of her Court
are portrayed by an intimate of the same race,
is a result.

Thomas F. Millahd.
Shanghai, July 24, 1911.

CONTENTS

Introductory

II.

At tub Palace ....

III.

A Plat at the Court .

IV.

A Luncheon with the Euphebs

An Audience with the Empress

VI.

In Attendance on Her Majesty

VII.

SoMB Incidents of the Court .

VIII.

The Court Ladies

IX.

Thk Emperor Kwano Hsu .

110

Tax VouNo Empress .

131

XI.

Our Costumes

155

XII.

The Empress and Mrs. Conger

172

XIII.

The Emphebbs Portrait .

203

XIV.

The Emperor-b Birthday .

aio

XV.

Thb Mid-Autumn Festival

269

XVI.

The Summer Palace .

288

XVII.

The Audience Hall .

812

XVIII.

The New Year Festivals ,

8S8

XIX.

The Sea Palace .

S45

XX.

Conclusion ....

868

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Princess Der Ling

FrontUpiee

North view of the Summer Palace .... 14

Pai Lou (archway) — Summer Palace ... 14
The Empress Dowager in her one hundred butterfly

robe 28

In front of the Pan Yuin De'en Palace ... 40

View token from Pei Yeun Dicn . . . . S2
The Empress Dowager dressed in her bamboo-leaf

embroidered robe 68

The Empress Dowaf|;er, Lady Yii, and Lady Roong

Ling 80

The Empress Dowager in one of her boats on the

Lotus Lalic 90

Her Imperial Majesty in her yellow dragon robe 112
Her Imperial Majesty walking to the theatre after

the morning audience 148

Bridge at the Summer Palace 172

The Jade Girdle Bridge— Summer Palace . . 172

East side of the lake inside the Summer Palace . 186

Stand erected for foreigners 186

The writer assisting Her Majesty .... 220
The Empress of China dresaed as the Goddess of

Mercy 350

Emperor's coffin carried by " 600 " pole bearers . 300

Umbrella carriers in the funeral 800

Foreigners in front of stand waiting for the funeral . 840

Flag carriers in the funeral S40

The Princess Dcr Ling in evening costume . . S7fl

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN
CITY

My father and mother. Lord and Lady Yu
Keng, and family, together with our suite consist-
ing of the First Secretary, Second Secretary,
Naval and Military Attaches. Chancellors, their
families, ser\'ants, etc., — altogether fifty-five peo-
ple, — arrived in Shanghai on January 2, 1908, on
the S.S. " Annam " from Paris, where for four
years my father had been Chinese Minister.
Our arrival was anything but pleasant, as the
rain came down in torrents, and we had the
greatest difficulty getting our numerous retinue
landed and safely housed, not to mention the
tons of baggage that had to be looked after.
We had found from previous experience that
none of our Legation people or servants could
be depended upon to do anything when travel-
ling, in consequence of which the entire charge
devolved upon my mother, who was without
doubt the genius of the party in arranging
matters and straightening out difficulties.

When the launch from the steamer arrived
at the jetty off the French Bund, we were

a "TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

.■oiet by the Shanghai Taotai (the highest offi-
■•^^ial in the city), the Shanghai Magistrate and
.*. numerous other officials, all dressed in their
official robes. The Taotai told my father that
he had prepared the Tien Ho Gung (Temple
of the Queen of Heaven) for us to reside in
during our stay in Shanghai, but my father
refused the ofFer, saying that he had tele-
graphed from Hong Kong and made all ar-
rangements to go to the Hotel des Colonies
in the French Concession. We had had pre-
vious experience staying in this temple while
on our way to Japan, where my father went
as Minister in 1893, and did not care to tr^' it
a second time. The building is very old and
very much out of repair. It was a beautiful
place in its prime, but had been allowed to go
to rack and ruin. The custom is that the
magistrate has to find a place and supply the
food, etc., for high officials when passing
through, and it is not exactly the thing to
refuse their kind offer, but my father was
always very independent and politely declined
all proifers of assistance.

At last we did safely arrive in the Hotel
des Colonies, where my father foimd awaiting
him two telegrams from the Imperial Palace-
These telegrams ordered my father to go to
Peking at once, but, as the river to Tientsin

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY 9

was frozen, it was out of the question for us to
go by that route, and as my father was very
old and quite ill at that time, in fact con-
stantly under the doctor's care, the only acces-
sible way. via Chimvangtao, was equally out
of the question, as it was a long and most
tedious journey and quite iieyond his strength.
In view of all these difficulties, he telegraphed
that, after the ice had broken up in the Peiho
River, we would come by the first steamer
leaving Shanghai for Tientsin.

We left Shanghai on the 22d of February
and arrived at Tientsin on the 26th, and, as be-
fore, were met by the Customs Taotai of the
port and numerous other officials (the same as
when we arrived at Shanghai).

There is a vei"y curious custom of reverence,
which must Ite performed by all high officials
on their return from abroad. Immediately
upon landing on the shores of China, arrange-
ments are made with the nearest Viceroy or
Governor to receive their obeisance to Ching
Sheng An (to worship the Emperor of Peace),
a Taotai being considered of too low a rank
for such an honor. As soon as we arrived,
Yuan Shih Kai, who was then Viceroy of
Childi Pro\'ince at Tientsin, sent an official
to my father to prepare the time and place for
this function, which is an extremely pretty

4 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

one. When arrangements had been made,
both my father and Vuan Shih Kai dressed
in their full ceremonial robes, which is the
dragon long robe, with a reddish black three-
quarter length coat over it, chao chu (amber
beads), hat witli peacock feather and red coral
button, and repaired at once to the Wan Shou
Kung (10,000 years palace), which is especially
built for functions of this kind, where they
were met by a large number of officials of the
lower grades. At the back centre of this
Temple, or Palace, stands a very long narrow
table on which are placed the tablets of the
Kmperor and Empress Dowager, on which is
written, " Wan sway, wan sway, wan wan
sway" (10,000 years times 10.000 5'ears times
10,000 10,000 years). The Viceroy, or in this
case Yuan Shih Kai, and the other officials
arrived first. Yuan stood at the left side of
this table and the others arranged themselves
in two diminishing lines starting from the
front corners of the table. Soon afterward my
father came and knelt directly in front of the
centre of the table and said, " Ah ha Ching
Sheng An" (Your servant gives you greet-
ing). After this ceremony was over my father
immediately arose and inquired after Their
Majesties' health, and Yuan replied that they
were quite well. This closed the function.

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY 5

We stayed in Tientsin for three days, arriv-
ing in Peking on the twenty-ninth. My
father's condition was much worse and he
begged for four months' leave of absence, in
which to recuperate, which was granted by
Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager. As our
beautiful mansion, which we had built and
furnished just before leaving for Paris, was
burned during the Boxer Rising of 1900, en-
taihng a. loss of over taels 100,000, we rented
and moved into a Chinese house. Our old
house was not entirely new. When we bought
the place there was a very fine but old Chinese
house, the palace of a Duke, standing on the
ground, and by some clever re-arrangement
and building on, it was transformed into a beauti-
ful foreign style house with all the fine hard-
wood carving of the old house worked into it.
By using the words " foreign style," it is meant
that, in so far as the Chinese house could be
made to look like a foreign house, without
tearing it down entirely, it was changed, that is
the doors and windows, passageways, furnish-
ings, etc., were foreign, but the arrangement
of the house itself and courtyard was Chinese.
This, like all Chinese houses in Peking, was
built in a very rambling fashion, and with the
gardens, covered about ten acres of ground.

6 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

in only four days when we left for Paris; and it
lias always been a great sorrow to my family
that we shouhi lose this magnificent place, after
having spent so much time and money in build-
ing and beautifying it. However, this is only
one of the many trials that a high official in
China is called upon to bear.

The houses in Peking are built in a very
rambling fashion, covering a large amount of
ground, and our former house was no exception
to the rule. It had sixteen small bouses, one
story high, containing about 175 rooms, ar-
ranged in quadrangles facing the courtyard,
which went to make up the whole; and so
placed, that without having to actually go out
of doors, you could go from one to the other
by verandas built along the front and enclosed
in glass. My reader will wonder what possible
use we could make of all of these rooms; but what
with our large family, nmiierous secretaries,
Cliinese writers, messengers, scr^'ants, mafoos
( coachmen ), and chair coohes, it was not a
dirticult task to use them.

The gardens surrounding the houses were ar-
ranged in the Chinese way, with small lakes,
sttK'ktnl with gold fish, and in which the beauti-
ful lotus Itower grew: crossed by bridges: large
weeping willows along the hanks: and many
different varieties of flowers in prettily arranged

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBroDEN CITY 7

flower beds, running along winding paths,
which wound in and out between the lakes. At
the time we left for Paris, in the month of
June, 1899, the gardens were a solid mass of
flowers and foliage, and much admired by all
who saw them.

As we now had no place of our own in Pe-
king we did not know where to go, so, while we
were at Tientsin, my father telegraphed to one
of his friends to find him a house. After some
little trouble one was secured, and it turned
out to be a very famous place indeed. It was
the house where Li Hung Chang signed the
treaties with the Foreign Powers after the
Boxer Rising and also where he died. We
were the first people to live there since the death
of Li Hung Chang, as the Chinese people were
very superstitious and were afraid that, if they
went there to live, something dreadful would
happen to them. We soon made ourselves very
comfortable, and while we lived there, none of
the dreadful things happened to us that all of
our good friends told us would be visited upon
us if we dared to take this place. However,
in view of our having lost our place by fire, I
am inclined to think that their fears were well
foimded.

The loss sustained by ha^'ing this house
burned we never recovered, as my father, being

8 TWO YEAUS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

an offlciul of the Government, it would have
heen very bad form to have tried to recover
tliw money, Iwsiftes a possible loss of standing,
as Government offieials are supposed never to
consider themselves or families in the service
of their country, and any private losses in the
service must be borne without complaint.

On the first of March, 1908, Prince Ching
and his son. Prince Tsai Chen, came to see us
and told ua that Her Majesty wished to see my
mother, my sister, anil myself at once; that we
should he at the Summer Palace (Wan Shou
Shan) nt six o'clwk the following morning.
My mother told Prince Ching that we had
liron wearing foreign clothes all these years,
while abroad, and had no suitable Manchu
clothes to wear. He replied that he had told
Ilcr Majesty all about us and also mentioned
that he had soon us in European attire and she
had saitl that it would not be necessary for us
to wear Manchu costume to go to the Palace,
thai slw would be glad to have us wear foreign
clothes, as it would give her an opportunity to
study the foreign way of dressing. Both my
sister ami luyseir had a ver>' dtflicidt time de-
ciding what wc should wear for this occmion:
she wished ti> wear her pale blue velvet gown,
as she thought that color suited her the best. My
UotKer had «lw«y« made as dnss exactly alike^

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY 9

ever since we were little girls. I said that I
preferred to wear my red velvet gown, as I
had the idea it might please Her Majesty.
After a long discussion I had my way. We
had lovely red hats trimmed with plumes and
the same color shoes, and stockings to match.
My mother wore a lovely gown of sea green
chiffon cloth embroidered with pale mauve iris
and trimmed with mauve velvet; she wore her
large black velvet hat with long white plumes.
As we lived in the central part of the city
and the only means of travel was by sedan chair
and the distance from our house to the Palace
was about thirty-six Chinese li (a three-hour
ride), we had to start at tlu-ee o'clock in the
morning, in order to be there at six. As this
was our first visit to the Palace. Prince Ching's
message threw us into a great state of excitement,
and we were naturally anxious to look our best
and to be there on time. It had been the dream
of my life to go to the Palace and see what it
was like, and up to this time I had never had
an opportunity, as most of my life had been
spent out of Peking, — in fact, out of China.
Another reason M'hy this chance had never come
before was, that my father had never registered
our names (my sister and myself) in the
Government book for the registration of births
of Manchu children, in consequence of which

10 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

the Empress Dowager did not know until we
came back from Paris that Lord Yii Keng had
any daughters. My father told me the reason
why he did not put our names in this book
was, that he wished to give us the best education
obtainable, and the only way he could do it was
not to let the Empress Dowager know. Be-
sides this, according to the Manchu custom, the
daughters of all Manchu officials of the second
rank and above, after reaching the age of four-
teen years, should go to the Palace, in order
that the Emperor may select them for secondary
wives if he so desires, and my father had other
plans and ambitions for us. It was in this way
that the late Empress Dowager was selected by
the Emperor Hsien Feng.

We started at three o'clock that morning in
total darkness riding in four coolie sedan chairs,
one on each side of the chair. In going such a
long distance it was necessary to have two relays
of chair coolies. This meant twenty-four coolies
for the three chairs, not counting an extra coolie
for each chair who acted as a sort of head chair
bearer. Besides this there were three military
officers on horses, one for each chair and two
servants riding at the back of each chair. In
addition there were three big Chinese carts fol-
lowing behind for the chair coolies to ride in and

INTRODUCTORY 11

rest. This made a cavalcade consisting of forty-
five men, nine horses and three carts.

I had a rather nervous feehng riding along in
the chair surrounded hy inky blackness, with
nothing to relieve the stillness of the night but
the rough voices of the chair bearers calling back
and forth to each other to be careful of stones
and holes in tlie road, which was very uneven, and
the clump, clump of the horses. To my readers
who have never had the experience of riding a
long distance in a sedan chair I would say that
it is a most uncomfortable conveyance, as you
have to sit perfectly still and absolutely straight,
otherwise the chair is liable to upset. This ride
was a very long one and I felt quite stiff and
tired by the time I reached the Palace gates.

CHAPTER TWO

AT THE PALACE

When we reached the City gates, which were
about half way between our house and the Sum-
mer Palace, they were wide oiien for us to pass.
This quite surprised us, as all gates are closed
at seven o'clock in the evening and are not opened
except on special occasions until daylight. We
inquired of tlie guard why this was, and were
told that orders had been given for the gates
to be opened for us to pass. The officials who
had charge were standing in a double line dressed
in full official dress and saluted us as we passed.

It was still quite dark when we had passed
through the gate and I thought of the many
experiences of my short life; but this was by far
the strangest of them all. I wondered what Her
Majesty would be like and whether she would
like me or not. We were told that probably we
would be asked to stay at the Court, and I
thought that if that came to pass, I would pos-
sibly be able to influence Her Slajesty in favor
of reform and so be of valuable assistance to
China. These thoughts made me feel happy and

AT THE PALACE 13

I made up my mind then and there that I would
do all I could and use any influence I might have
in the future towards the advancement of China
and for her welfare. AVhile I was still dream-
ing of these pleasant prospects, a faint red line
appeared on the horizon heralding the coming of
a most perfect day, and so it proved. As the
light grew brighter and I could distinguish objects,
a very pretty view gradually opened to me, and
as we came nearer to the Palace I could see a
high red wall which zigzagged from hill to hill
and enclosed the Palace grounds. The tops of
the wall and buildings were covered with yellow
and green tiles and made a most dazzhng picture
the briglit sunlight. Pagodas of different
sizes and styles were passed, and when we arrived
at the village of Hai Tien, about four li from
the Palace gates, we were told by the officers
we only had a siiort distance further to go. This
was good news, as I began to think we would
never get there. This village was quite a pretty
country place of one-story houses built of brick,
which were very neat and clean as are most of
the houses in the northern part of China. The
children trouped out to see the procession pass,
and I heard one remark to another: "Those ladies
are going to the Palace to become Empresses,"

_ which amused me very much.

H Soon after leaving Hai Tien we came to a pai

14. TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

lou (archway), a very beautiful piece of old
Chinese architecture and carved work, and from
here got our first view of tlie Palace gates, which
were about 100 yards ahead. These gates are
cut into the solid wall surrounding the Palace
and consist of one very large gate in the center
and two smaller ones on each side. The center
gate is only opened when their Majesties pass
in and out of the Palace. Our chairs were set
down in front of the left gate, which was open.
Outside of these gates, at a distance of about 500
yards, were two buildings where the guard stayed
at night.

Just as we arrived I saw a number of officials
talking excitedl}', and some of them went into the
gate shouting "Li la, doula" (have come, have
arrived). Wlien we got out of our chairs, we
were met by two eunuchs of the fourth rank
(chrystal button and feather). This feather
which is worn by eunuchs of the fourth rank,
comes from a bird called'the magh (horse-fowl)
which is found in Szechuen Province. They are
grey and are dyed black, and are much wider than
the peacock feather. These two eunuchs were
accompanied by ten small eunuchs carrj-ing yel-
low silk screens, which they placed around our
chairs when we alighted. It appeared that Her
Majesty had given orders that these screens
(huang wai mor) should be brought to us. This

AT THE PALACE

Is considered a great honor. They were ten feet
long and twenty feet liigh and were held by two'
eunuchs.

These two eunuchs of high rank were extremely
poUte and stood at each side of the gate and
invited us to enter. Passing througli this gate
we came into a very large paved courtyard about
three hundred feet square, in which there were a
great many small flower beds and old pine trees
from which hung all kinds of birds in cages. On
the side opposite to the gates we had entered was
a red brick wall with three gates exactly like the
others; on the right and left side were long rows
of low buildings each containing twelve rooms,
used as waiting rooms. Tlie courtyard was full
of people dressed in official robes of the different
ranks, and, after the Chinese fashion, all seemed
to be very busy doing nothing. When they saw
us they stood still and stared. The two eunuchs
who were showing us the way conducted us to
one of these rooms. This room was about twenty
feet square, just ordinarily furnished in black
wood furniture with red cloth cushions and silk
curtains hanging from the three windows. We
were not in this room more than five minutes
when a gorgeously dressed eunuch came and said:
"Imperial Edict says to invite Yu tai tai ( Lady
Yii) and young ladies to wait in the East side
Palace." On his saying this, the two eunuchs

16 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

who were with us knelt down and replied "Jur"
(Yes). Whenever Her Majesty gives an order
it is considered an Imperial Edict or command
and all ser\'ants are required to kneel when any
command is transmitted to them the same as they
would if in Her Majesty's presence. Then they
told us to follow them and we went through an-
other left gate to another courtyard laid out
exactly the same as the former, except that the
Ren Shou Dien {audience hall) is situated on
the north side and the other buildings were a
Uttle larger. The eunuchs showed us into the
east side building, which was beautifully fur-
nished with reddish blaekwood exquisitely carved,
the chairs and tables covered with blue satin
and the walls hung with the same material.
In different parts of the room were fourteen
clocks of all sizes and shapes. I know this, for
I counted them.

In a little while two ser\'ant girls came and
waited on us and told us that Her Majesty was
dressing and that we were to wait a little time.
This little time proved to be a matter of more
than two hours and a half, but as this is con-
sidered nothing in Cliina, we did not get impa-
tient. From time to time eunuchs came and
brought milk to drink and about twenty or more
dishes of various kinds of food which Her
Majesti,' sent. She also sent us each a gold ring

AT THE PALACE 17

with a large pearl in the center. Later the chiet
eunuch, Li Lien Vtng, came dressed in his official
clothes. He was of the second rank and wore
a red button and peacock feather and was the
only eunuch that was ever allowed to wear the
peacock feather. He was a verj- ugly man, verj'
old and his face was full of wrinkles; hut he had
beautiful manners and said that Her Majesty
would receive us in a httle while, and brought
us each a jade ring which she had sent us. We
were very much surprised that she should give
us such beautiful presents before she had even
seen us, and felt most kindly disposed toward
her for her generositj-.

Soon after Li Lien Ying had gone, two court
ladies, daughters of Prince Ching, came in and
asked the eunuchs who were attending us if we
could speak Chinese, which we thought a great
joke. I was the first one to speak, and told
them of course we could speak our own language,
although we knew several others. They were
very much surprised and said: "Ohl how funny,
they can talk the language as well as we do."
We in turn were very much surprised to find
such ignorant people in the Imperial Palace and
concluded that their opportunities for acquiring
knowledge were very limited. Then they told
us Her Majesty was waiting to receive us, and
we went immediately.

18 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

After walking through three courtyards very
similar to those we had previously passed through,
we came to a magnificent building just one mass
of exquisite carving. Large lanterns made of
buffalo horns hung all over the veranda cov-
ered with red silk from which red silk tassels were
hanging and from each of these tassels was sus-
pended a beautiful piece of jade. There were
two smaller buildings flanking this large one, also
one mass of can'ings and hung with lanterns.

At the door of the large building we met a
lady, dressed the same as Prince Ching's daugh-
ters, with the exception that she had a phoenix
in the center of her headdress which distin-
guished her from the others. This lady came out
to meet us, smiling, and shook hands with us in
the most approved foreign fashion. We were
told later that this was the Young Empress, wife
of the Emperor Kwang Hsu. She said: "Her
Majesty has sent me to meet you," and was very
sweet and polite, and had beautiful manners ; but
was not very pretty. Then we Jieard a loud voice
from the hall saying, "Tell them to come in at
once." We went into this hall immediately and
saw an old lady dressed in a beautiful yellow
satin gown embroidered all over with pink
peonies, and wearing the same kind of headdress
with flowers on each side made of pearls and jade,
a pearl tassel on the left side and a beautiful

AT THE PALACE 19

phcEnix in the center made of purest jade. Over
her gown she wore a cape, the most magnificent
and costly thing I ever saw. This cape was made
of ahout three thousand five hundred pearls the
size of a canary bird's egg, all exactly alike in
color and perfectly round. It was made on the
fish net pattern and had a fringe of jade pend-
ants and was joined with two pure jade clasps.
In addition to this Her Majesty wore two pairs
of pearl bracelets, one pair of jade bracelets,
several jade rings and on her third and little
fingers of her right hand she wore gold finger
nail protectors about three inches long and on
the left hand two finger nail protectors made of
jade and about the same length. Her shoes were
trimmed with small tassels made of pearls and
embroidered with tiny pieces of different colored
jade.

Her Majesty stood up when she saw us and
shook hands with us. She had a most fasci-
nating smile and was very much surprised that we
knew the Court etiquette so well. After she had
greeted us, she said to my mother: "Yu tai tai
(Lady Yii), you are a wonder the way you have
brought your daughters up. They speak Chinese
just as well as I do, although I know they have
been abroad for so many years, and how is it
that they have such beautiful manners?" "Their
father was always very strict with them," my

go TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

mother replied ; "he made them study their own
language first and they had to study very hard."
"I am pleased to hear their father has been so
careful with them," Her Ma j esty said, "and
given them such a fine education." She took my
hands and looked into my face and smiled and
kissed me on both cheeks and said to my mother:
"I wish to have your daughters and hope they
will stay with me." We were very much pleased
at this and thanked her for her kindness. Her
Majesty asked all sorts of questions about our
Paris gowns and said we must wear them all
the time, as she had very little chance to see them
at the Court. She was particularly in love with
our Louis XV high heel shoes. AVhile we were
talking to her we saw a gentleman standing at a
httle distance and after a while she said, "Let
me introduce you to the Emperor Kwang Hsu,
but you must call him Wan Sway Yeh {Master
of 10,000 years) and call me Lao Tsu Tsung
(the Great Ancestor)." His Majesty shyly
shook hands with us. He was a man about five
feet, seven inches in height, very thin, but with
very strong features; high nose and forehead,
large, brilliant black eyes, strong mouth, very
white, even teeth; altogether good looking. I
noticed he had a very sad look, although he was
smiling all the time we were there. At this

AT THE PALACE

juncture the head eunuch came, knelt down on
the marble floor and announced that Her
Majesty's chair was ready and she asked us to
go with her to the Audience Hall, distant about
two minutes' walk, wliere she was going to
receive the heads of the different Boards. It
was a beautiful day and her open chair was wait-
ing. This chair is carried by eight eunuchs all
dressed in official robes, a most unusual sight.
The head eunuch walked on her left side and the
second eunuch on her right side, each with a
steadying hand on the chair pole. Four eunuchs
of the fifth rank in front and twelve eunuchs of
the sixth rank walked behind. Each eunuch
carried something in his hand, such as Her
Majesty's clothes, shoes, handkerchiefs, combs,
brushes, powder boxes, looking glasses of dif-
ferent sizes, perfumes, pins, black and red ink,
yellow paper, cigarettes, water pipes, and the
last one carried her yellow satin-covered stool.
Besides this there were two amahs {old women
servants) and four ser^'ant girls all carrying
something. This procession was most interest-
ing to see and made one think it a lady's dressing
room on legs. The Emperor walked on Her
Majesty's right and the Young Empress on the
left, as did also the Court ladies.

The Audience Hall was about two hundred

23 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBroDEN CITY

feet long by about one hundred and fifty feet
wide, and at the left side was a long table cov-
ered with yellow satin. When Her Majesty
canie down from the chair she went into the Hall
and mounted her throne just behind this table,
and His Majesty mounted a smaller one at her
left side, the Ministers all kneehng on the floor
in front of her and on the opposite side of the
table.

At the back of the Hall was a large dais about
twenty feet long by about eighteen feet wide,
enclosed by a magnificently canned railing about
two feet high running all the way round, open
only in the front in two places just large enough
for a person to pass through. These two open-
ings were reached by a flight of six steps. At
the back of this dais was a small screen and im-
mediately in front of this, in the center, was Her
Majesty's throne. Immediately behind was an
immense carved wood screen, the most beautiful
thing I ever saw, twenty feet long by ten feet
high. In front of Her Majesty's throne was a
long narrow table. At the left side was a smaller
throne for the Emperor.

The theme of the carving and furnishings of
tliis dais was the phoenix and peony most exqui-
sitely carved in ebony wood, in fact the theme
of the entire room was the same. On each side
of Her Majest3''s throne were two upright ebony

The Empress Uowngcr in lit-r one hundred butterfly i
beneath which can be seen one of her sliocs trimmed
with pearls and other precious stones

AT THE PALACE »3

poles on the top of which were peacock feathers
made into the shape of a fan. The upholstery
was entirely of yellow Chinese velvet.

Just before Her Majesty took her seat on her
throne she ordered us to go behind this screen
with the Young Empress and the Court ladies.
This we did, and could hear the conversation
between Her Majesty and the Ministers very
plainly, and as my readers will see later, I made
good use of this.

CHAPTER THREE

A PLAY AT THE COURT

This day to me was a medley of brilliant im-
pressions. I was a great novelty among these
exclusive Court ladies, brought up rigidly apart
from foreign life and customs, and 1 was sub-
jected to a rapid fire of questions. I soon found
that these women were the same as others the
world over in point of curiosity and love of gos-
sip. The fourth daughter of Prince Ching (Sze
Gurgur), a young widow and a strikingly hand-
some woman, spoke to me. "Were you brought
up in Europe and educated?" she asked. "I am
told that when people go to that country and
drink the water there, they quickly forget their
own country. Did you really study to acquire
all those languages or was it drinking the water
that gave them to you?" I mentioned that I met
her brother, Prince Tsai Chen, in Paris mi his
way to London for the coronation of King Ed-
ward, and that we should have liked to have gone
also, as my father had a special invitation, but
were prevented from doing so by his urgent duties
in Paris in settling the Yunnan question, to which

A PLAY AT THE COURT

the Princess replied: "Is there a king in Eng-
land i I had thought that our Empress Dowager
was Queen of the world." Her sister, wife of
the brother of the Young Empress, a most intelli-
gent, quiet and dignified lady, stood by smihng
and hstening to the eager questions. After
numerous questions had been asked the Young
Empress finally said: "How ignorant you are.
I know that each country has its ruler and that
some countries are republics. The United
States is a repuhhc and very friendly toward
us, but I am sorry that such a common class
of people go there, as they will think we are all
the same. What I should like to see is some
of our good Manchu people go, as then they
would see what we really are." She afterwards
told me she had been reading a history of the
different countries, which had been translated
into Chinese, and she seemed to be very well
informed.

After the Audience was over, Her Majesty
called us out from behind the screen and told
us to go with her to see the theatre. She said,
as it was such a beautiful day, she preferred to
walk, so we started, walking a httle behind her,
as is the custom. Along the way she pointed
out from time to time different places and things
that were her particular favorites, and as she had
to keep turning around all the time, she finally

26 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

told us to come and walk alongside of her. This,
as I afterwards found out, was a great conde-
scension on her part and a thing that she very
seldom ever did. She, like everybody else, had
her pets and hohbies, such as flowers, trees,
plants, dogs, horses, etc., and there was one dog
in particular that was her favorite pet. This
dog was with Her Majesty always and followed
her wherever she went, and a more homely dog
I never saw. It had absolutely nothing to rec-
ommend it in any way. Her Majesty thought
it beautiful, and called it Shui Ta (Sea Otter).

A short distance from the Audience Hall we
came to a large courtyard. On each side of this
courtyard were two immense baskets fifteen feet
in height, built of natural logs and literally cov-
ered with purple wisteria. They were simply
gorgeous and great favorites of Her Majesty.
She was always very proud of them when in
bloom and took great delight in showing them
to the people.

From tlus courtyard we entered a sort of
passageway which ran along the sides of a big
liill and led directly to the theatre, where we soon
arrived. This theatre is quite unlike anything
that you can imagine. It is built around the four
sides of an open courtyard, each side being sep-
arate and distinct. The building has five stories.
It is entirely open on the front and has two

A PLAY AT THE COURT 37

stages, one above tlie other. The three top stories
are used for holding the drops and for store
rooms. The stage on the first floor is of the
ordinary kind; but that on the second floor is
built to represent a temple and used when play-
ing religious plays, of which Her Majesty was
very fond.

On the two sides were long, low buildings
with large verandas running their entire length,
where the Princes and Ministers sat when invited
by Her Majesty to witness tlie play. Directly
opposite this stage was a spacious building, con-
taining three large rooms, which was used exclu-
sively by Her Majesty. The floor was raised
about ten feet above the ground, which brought

iit on a level with tlie stage. Large glass win-
dows ran along in front, so made that they could
be removed in the summer and replaced with
pale blue gauze screens. Two of these rooms
Were used as sitting rooms and the third, the one
on the right, she used as a bedroom, and it had
a long couch running across the front, on which
she used to sit or he according to her mood. This
day she invited us to go to this room with her.
Later I was told that she would very often come
to this room, look at the play for a while and
then take her siesta. She could certainly sleep
soundly, for the din and noise did not disturb
yher in the least. If any of my readers have ever

28 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

been to a Chinese theatre, they can well imagine
how difficult it would be to woo the God of Sleep
in such a pandemonium.

As soon as we were in this bedroom the play
commenced. It was a religious play called "The
Empress of Heaven's Party or Feast to all the
Buddhist Priests to eat her famous peaches and
drink her best wine." This party or feast is
given on the third day of the third moon of each
year.

The first act opens with a Buddhist Priest,
dressed in a yellow coat robe with a red scarf
draped over his left shoulder, descending in a
cloud from Heaven to invite all the priests to
this party. I was very much surprised to see
this actor apparently suspended in the air and
actually floating on tliis cloud, which was made
of cotton. The clever way in which they moved
the scenery, etc., was most interesting, and before
the play was finished I concluded that any
theatre manager could well take lessons from
these people; and it was all done without the
slightest bit of machinery.

As this Buddhist Priest was descending, a large
pagoda began to slowly rise from the center of
the stage in which was a buddha singing and
holding an incense burner in front of him. Then
four other smaller pagodas slowly rose from the
four corners of the stage, each containing a

A PLAY AT THE COURT 29

buddlia the same as the first. When the first
Buddliist Priest had descended, the five buddlias
came out of the pagodas, which immediately dis-
appeared, and walked about the stage, stUl sing-
ing. Gradually from the wing came numbers
of buddhas singing until the stage was full, and
they all formed into a ring. Then I saw a large
lotus flower, made of pink silk, and two large
green leaves appearing from tlie bottom of the
stage, and as it rose the petals and leaves grad-
ually opened and I saw a beautiful lady buddha
(Goddess of Mercy) dressed all in white silk,
with a white hood on her head, standing in the
center of tliis flower. As the leaves ojwned I
saw a girl and a boy in the center of them.
When the petals of the lotus flower were wide
open this lady buddha began to gradually
ascend herself, and as she ascended, the petals
closed until she seemed to be standing on a lotus
bud. The girl standing in the leaf on the God-
dess' right side held a bottle made of jade and
a wiUow branch. The legend of this is that if
the Goddess dips the willow branch into tlie jade
bottle and spreads it over a dead person it will
bring the person to Ufe. The boy and the girl
are the two attendants of the buddha.

Finally the three came down from the flower
and leaves and joined the rest of the bud-
dhas. Then the Empress of Heaven came, a

30 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

good old lady with snow-white hair, dressed from
head to foot in Imperial yellow, followed by many
attendants, and ascended the throne, wliich was
in the center of the stage, and said: "We will go
to the banquet liall." This ended the first scene.

The second scene opened with tables set for
the feast to he given hy the Empress of Heaven.
These tables were loaded down with peaches and
wine and four attendants guarding them. Sud-
denly a hee came buzzing near and scattered a
powder under the nostrils of the attendants,
which made them sleepy. When they had fallen
asleep, tliis bee transformed itself into a big
monkey and this monkey ate all the peaches and
drank all the wine. As soon as he had finished
he disappeared.

A blast of trumpets announced the coming of
the Empress of Heaven and she soon arrived
accompanied by all the Buddliist Priests and
their attendants. When the Empress of Heaven
saw all the peaches and wine had disappeared,
she woke the attendants and asked them why
they were asleep and where the peaches and wine
had gone. They said that tliey did not know,
that they were waiting for her to come and fell
asleep. Then one of the guests suggested that
she should find out what had become of the feast,
and attendants were sent out to the guard to find
out from the soldiers if anyone had gone out of

A PLAY AT THE COURT

the gate recently. Before the messenger had
time to return, the Guard of Heaven came and
informed the Empress that a big monkey, who
was very drunk and carrying a big stick, had just
gone out of the gate. When she was told this,
she ordered the soldiers of heaven and several
buddhas to go and find him at his place. It
seems that this monkey had originally been made
from a piece of stone and lived in a large hole
in a mountain on the earth. He was endowed
with supernatural powers and could walk on the
clouds. He was allowed to come to heaven and
the Empress of Heaven gave him a position look-
ing after the Imperial orchards.

When they got to his place on the earth, they
found that he had taken some of the peaches with
him and he, with other monkeys, was having a
feast. The soldiers challenged liim to come out
and fight. He immediately accepted this chal-
lenge, but the soldiers could do nothing with him.
He pulled the hair out of his coat and trans-
formed each hair into a little monkey and each
monkey had an iron rod in its hand. He him-
self had a special iron rod, which had been given
to him by the King of Sea Dragons. This rod
he could make any size lie wanted from a needle
to a crowbar.

Among the buddhas who had gone with the
soldiers was one named Erh Lang Yeh, who was

38 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

the most powerful of them all and had three eyes.
This buddha had a dog which was very powerful
and he told the dog to bite this monkey, which he
did, and the monkey fell down and they caught
him and brought him up to heaven. When they
got there the Empress of Heaven ordered that
he should be handed to Lao Chun, an old taoist
god, and that he should burn him in his incense
burner. The incense burner was very large, and
when they took the monkey to him he placed him
inside this burner and watched him very care-
fully to see that he did not get out. After he
had watched for a long time he thought the
monkey must be dead and went out for a few
minutes. The monkey, however, was not dead
and as soon as Lao Chun went out, he escaped
and stole some golden pills which Lao Chun kept
in a gourd and went back to his hole in the moun-
tains. These pills were very powerful and if one
of them were eaten it would give eternal life,
and the monkey knew this. The monkey ate one
and it tasted good and he gave the little monkeys
some. When Lao Chun came back and found
both the monkey and the pills gone he went and
informed the Empress of Heaven. This ended
the second scene.

The third scene opened with the buddhas and
soldiers at the monkey's place in the mountains
and they again asked him to come out and fight.

A PLAY AT THE COURT 33

[ The monkey said: "What! Coming again?" and

I laughed at tliem. They started to fight again,

\. but he was so strong they could not get the hest

I of him. Even the dog who had hit him before

I was powerless this time, and they finally gave

I it up and returned to heaven and told the

' Empress of Heaven that they could not capture

him the second time, as he was too strong. Then

the Empress of Heaven called tt little god about

fifteen years old by the name of Neur Cha, who

Lfaad supernatural powers, and told liim to go down

Ito earth to the monkey's place and see if he could

&ush him. This god was made of lotus flowers

and leaves, that is, his hones were made of flowers

and his flesh made of leaves and he could trans-

Lform himself into anything that he wished.

When Neur Cha got to the monkey's place and

the monkey saw him, he said: "What! A little
I boy like you come to fight me? Well, if you

think you can beat me, come on," and the hoy
I transformed himself into an immense man with
Ithree heads and six arms. When the monkey
I saw this, he transformed liiniself also into the

ne thing. When the little god saw that this

ilFOuld not do, he transformed himself into a very

Ibig man and started to take the monkey, but the

Imontey transformed himself into a very large

word and cut this man into two pieces. The

ttle god again transformed himself into fire

31 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

to burn the monkey, but the monkey transformed
himself into water and put the fire out. Again
the little god transformed himself, this time into
a very fierce lion, but the monkey transformed
himself into a big net to catch the lion. So this
little god, seeing that he could not get the best
of the monkey, gave it up and went back to
heaven, and told the Empress of Heaven that
the monkey was too strong for him. The Em-
press of Heaven was in despair, so she sent for
Ju Li, an old ancestor of the buddhas, who was
the all-powerful one of them all; and Kuan Yin,
Gkiddess of Mercy, and sent them down to the
monkey's place to see if they could capture him.
When they arrived at the hole in the mountain
the monkey came out and looked at Ju Li, but
did not say a word, as he knew who this god was. '
This god pointed a finger at him and he knelt
down and submitted. Ju Ij said: "Come with
me," and took the monkey and put him under
another mountain and told him he would have
to stay there until he promised he would be good.
Ju Li said: "You stay here until one day I Uft
this mountain up for you to come out to go with
a Buddhist Priest to the West side of heaven and
demand the prayer books that are kept there.
You will have to suffer a great deal on the way
and face many dangers, but if you come back
with this Buddhist Priest and the prayer books^

A PLAY AT THE COURT 35

by that time your savage temper will be gone
and you will be put in a nice place in heaven and
enjoy life forever afterwards."

This finished the play, which was very inter-
esting, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.
It was acted very cleverly and quite realistic, and
I was very much surprised to know that the
eunuchs could act so well. Her Majesty told us
that the scenery was all painted by the eunuchs
and that she had taught them about all they
knew. Unlike most theatres in China, it had a
curtain which was closed between the acts, also
wing slides and drop scenes. Her Majesty had
never seen a foreign theatre and I could not
understand where she got all her ideas from.
She was very fond of reading religious books
and fairj'- tales, and wTote them into plaj's and
staged them herself, and was extremely proud
of her achievement.

Her Majesty sat talking, we standing, for
some little time and slie asked me if I understood
the play, and I told her that I did and she seemed
quite pleased. Then she said in such a charming
way : "Oh 1 1 am so interested in talking with you
that I have forgotten to order my lunch. Are
you hungr\' ? Could you get Chinese food when
you were abroad, and were you homesick? I
know I would be if I left ray own country for
so long a time; but the reason why you were

-1.J

36 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

abroad so long was not your fault. It was my
order that sent Yu Keng to Paris and I am not
a bit sorry, for you see how much you can help
me now, and I am proud of you and will show
you to the foreigners that they may see our
Manchu ladies can speak other languages tlian
their own." While she was talking I noticed
that the eunuchs were laying three large tables
with nice white table cloths, and I could see a
number of other eunuchs standing in the court-
yard with boxes of food. These boxes or trays
are made of wood painted yellow and are large
enough to hold four small and two large bowls
of food. After the tables were laid ready, the
eunuchs outside formed themselves into a double
line from tlie courtyard to a little gate rumiing
into another courtyard and passed these trays
from one to the other up to the entrance of the
room, where they were taken by four nicely
dressed eunuchs and placed on the tables.

It seems that it was a habit of Her Majesty
to take her meals wherever she liappened to be,
so that there was no particular place that she used
as a dining room. I should also mention that
these bowls were of Imperial yellow with silver
covers. Some were ornamented with green
dragons and some with the Chinese character
Shou (Long Life).

There were about one himdred and fifty differ-

A PLAY AT THE COURT 37

ent kinds of food, for I counted them. They
were placed in long rows, one row of large bowls
and one row of small plates, and then anotlier
row of small bowls, and so on. As the setting
of the tables was going on, two Court ladies came
into the bedroom, each carrying a large yellow
box. I was very much surprised to see Court
ladies doing this kind of work and I said to
myself, if I come here will I have to do this sort
of thing? Although these boxes appeared to be
quite heav'y, they brought them in very grace-
fully. Two small tables were placed in front
of Her Majesty, then they opened the boxes and
placed a number of very cute plates containing
all sorts of sweets, lotus flower seeds, dried and
cooked with sugar, watermelon seeds, walnuts
cooked in different ways, and fruits of the season
cut and sliced. As these plates were being
placed on the tables Her Majesty said that she
liked these dainties better than meat and gave
us some and told us to make ourselves at home.
We thanked her for her kindness and enjoyed
them very much. I noticed that she ate quite a
quantity from the different plates and wondered
how she would be aide to eat her lunch. When
she had finished, two of the Court ladies came
and took the plates away and Her Majesty told
H us that she always gave what was left to the
H Court ladies after she had finished eating.

I
I

38 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

After this a eunuch came in carrying a cup of
tea. This tea cup was made of pure white jade
and the saucer and cover was of solid gold. Then
another eunuch came In carrying a silver tray
on which were two jade cups similar to the others,
one containing honeysuckle flowers and the other
rose petals. He also brought a pair of gold
chopsticks. They both knelt on tlie floor in front
of Her Majesty and held the trays up so that
she could reach them. She took the golden cover
off of the cup containing tea and took some of
the honeysuckle flowers and placed them in the
tea. While she was doing this and sipping the
tea, she was telling how fond she was of flowers
and what a delicate flavor they gave to the tea.
Then she said: "I will let you taste some of my
tea and see if you like it," and ordered one of
the eunuchs to bring us some tea. the same as she
was drinking. When it came, she put some of
the honeysuckle flowers in the cup for us and
watched us drink it. It was the most delicious
tea I had ever tasted and the putting of flowers
in it gave it an extremely delicate flavour.

CHAPTER FOUR

A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS

When we had finished drinking tea, she told us
to go with her into the next room, wliere the
tables had been prepared for lunch, and I won-
dered if she had any room for lunch, after all
that she had just eaten, but I soon found out.
As soon as she was inside the room, she ordered
the covers to be removed and they were all taken
o£F at one time. Then she took her seat at the
head of the table and told us to stand at the foot.
She then said: "generally the Emperor takes
lunch with rae when we have the theatre, but he is
shy to-day, as you are all new to him. I hope
he will get over it and not be so bashful. You
three had better eat with me to-day." Of course,
we knew that this was an especial favor, and
thanked lier by koivtowing before we commenced
to eat. This kowtowing, or bowing our heads to
the ground, was very tiring at first and made us
dizzy, untQ we got used to it.

^Vhen we commenced to eat, Her Majesty
ordered the eunuchs to place plates for us and
give us silver chopsticks, spoons, etc., and said:

40 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBtDDEN CITY

"I am sorry you have to eat standing, but I can-
not break the law of our great ancestors. Even
the Young Empress cannot sit in my presence.
I am sure the foreigners must think we are bar-
barians to treat our Court ladies in this way and
I don't wish them to know anything about our
customs. You will see how differently I act in
their presence, so that they cannot see my true
self."

I was watching her while she was talking to
my mother and marvelled to see how she could
eat, after having eaten such a quantity of candy,
walnuts, etc., wliile in her bedroom.

Beef was a thing that was tabooed within the
precincts of the Palace, as it was considered a
great sin to kill and eat animals that were used
as beasts of burden. The food consisted mostly
of pork, mutton and game, fowls and vegetables.
This day we had pork cooked in ten different
ways, such as meat bails, sliced cold in two dif-
ferent ways, red and white, the red being cooked
with a special kind of sauce made of beans which
gives it the red color and has a dehcious taste.
Chopped pork with chopped bamboo shoots, pork
cut in cubes and cooked with cherries and pork
cooked with onions and sliced thin. This last
dish was Her Majesty's fa%'orite and I must say
it was good. Then there was a sort of pancake
made of eggs, pork and mushrooms chopped fine

A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS 41

and fried, also pork cooked with cabbage and
another dish cooked with turnips. The fowl and
mutton was cooked in several different ways. In
the center of the table was a very large bowl
about two feet in diameter of the same yellow
porcelain, in wliich there was a chicken, a duck
and some shark tins in a clear soup. Shark fins
are considered a great delicacy in China. Be-
sides tliis there was roast chicken, boneless chicken
and roast duck. Ducks and chickens are stuffed
with little pine needles to give them a fine flavor
and roasted in open air ovens.

There was another dish that Her Majesty was
very fond of and that was the skin of roast pork
cut into very small slices and fried until it curls
up like a rasher of bacon.

As a rule the Manchu people seldom eat rice,
but are very fond of bread and this day we had
bread, made in a mmiber of different ways, such
as baked, steamed, fried, some with sugar and
some with salt and pepper, cut in fancy shapes
or made in fancy moulds such as dragons, but-
terflies, flowers, etc., and one kind was made with
mincemeat inside. Then we had a nun'ber of
different kinds of pickles, of which Her ]V ajesty
was very fond. Then there was beans and green
peas, and peanuts made into cakes and served
with sugarcane syrup.

I did not eat very much, as I was too busy

42 ITVO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

watching Her Majesty and listening to what she
said, although she told us to eat all we could.
In addition to all I have mentioned, we had many
different kinds of porridge, some made of sweet
corn and some with tiny yellow rice (Uke bird
seed), and Her Majesty said that we must all
eat porridge after our meat.

After we had finally finished eating, Her
Majesty rose from the table and said: "Come
into my bedroom and you will see the Young
Empress and the Court ladies eat; they always
eat after I am finished." We went with her and
I stood near the door between the two rooms
and saw the Young Empress and Court ladies
come in and stand around the table eating very
quietly. They were never allowed to sit down
and eat their food.

All this time the theatre had been going on
playing some fairy tales, but they were not near
as interesting as the first play that we had seen.
Her Majesty sat on her long couch in the bed-
room and the eunuch brought her some tea and
she ordered some brougiit for us. My reader
can imagine how delighted I was to be treated
in this way. In China the people think their
sovereign is the supreme being and that her word
is law. One must never raise their eyes when
talking to her. This is a sign of great respect.
I thought these extreme favors must be most

A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS 48

unusual. I had been told that Her Majestj' had
a very fierce temper, but seeing her so kind and
gracious to us and talking to us in such a motherly
way, I thought my informant must be wrong
and that she was the sweetest woman in the
world.

When Her Majesty had rested a while, she
told us tliat it w-as time we were returning to the
city, as it was getting late. She gave us eight
big yellow boxes of fruit and cakes to take home
with us. She said to my mother: "Tell Yii Keng
{my father) to get better soon and tell him to
take the medicine I am sending by you and to
rest well. Also give him these eight boxes of
fruit and cakes." I thought my father, who had
been quite ill since we returned from Paris, would
not be much benefited if he ate all those cakes.
However, I knew he would appreciate her kind
thoughtfulness even if it were detrimental to his
health.

As perhaps most of my readers know, it is the
custom to kowtow when Her IVIajesty gives pres-
ents and we kowtowed to her when she gave us
the fruit and cakes and thanked her for her kind-
ness.

Just as we were leaving. Her Majesty said to
my mother that she liked us very much and
wanted us to come and be her Court ladies and
stay at the Palace. We thought tliis was

44 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

another great favor and again thanked her, and
she asked us when we could come and told us to
bring our clothes and things only, as she would
fix everything for us and showed us the house
we would live in when we came and told us to
come back inside of two days. This house con-
tained three very large rooms and was situated
on the right side of her own or private Palace.
This Palace Ler Shou Tong (Ever Happy
Palace) is situated on the shores of the lake and
was Her Majesty's favorite place and where she
spent most of her time, reading and resting and
when the spirit moved her she would go for a
sail on the lake. In this Palace she had quite a
number of bedrooms and made use of them all.
When she had finished showing us this house
we took leave of Her Majesty, the Young
Empress and the Court ladies, and after a long
and tiresome ride> reached home exhausted but
happy, after the most eventful day of our lives.
When we got into the house, we were surprised
to find several eunuchs waiting our return.
They had brought us each four rolls of Imperial
brocade from Her Majesty. Once more we bad
to bend to custom in thanking her for these ^fts.
This time, the gift having been sent to the house,
we placed the silk on a table in the center of the
room and kowtowed to thank Her Majesty and
told the eunuchs to tell Her Majesty how grate-

A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS *5

I
I
I

fill we were to her for all her kindness and for
the beautiful gifts.

There is another thing that had to be done
according to the custom, and that was to give the
eunuchs a present or tip, and we had to give
each of the eunuchs ten taels for their trouhle.
We afterwards found out that when eunuchs
went anywhere to take presents for Her Majesty,
they were required to report to her when they re-
turned how the recipient had thanked her and
what had heen given them, which she allowed
them to keep. She also asked them numerous
questions about our house, whether we were
pleased with her, etc. These people are ex-
tremely fond of talking and after we had re-
turned to the Palace again, they told us what
Her Majesty had said about us the first day we
were there.

My mother felt very much worried to go to
the Palace and leave my father all alone owing
to his being in poor health, but we could not dis-
obey Her Majesty's order, so we returned to the
Palace three days later.

Our first day there was a busy one for us.
When we first arrived we went and thanked Her
Majesty for the present that she had sent us,
She told us that she was very busy to-day, as
she was going to receive a Russian lady, Madame
Plan<;on, wife of the Russian Minister to Cliina,

46 TWU YEARS IN THE l-'ORBIDDEN CITY

who was bringing a miniature portrait of the
Czar and Czarina and family as a present from the
Czar to her, the Empress Dowager. She asked
me if I could speak Russian. I told her that I
could not, but that most Russians spoke French,
which seemed to satisfy her. She, however, said:
"Why don't you tell me you speak Russian, I
won't know or be able to find out," and at the
same time was looking at one of the Court ladies.
I concluded that someone must be fooling her,
for she seemed to appreciate the fact that I had
told her the truth. This afterwards proved to
be true and one of the Court ladies was dismissed
for pretending she could talk foreign languages
when she could not speak a word.

Besides this audience there was the theatre and
the engagement ceremony of Her Majesty's
nephew, Ter Ju. The engagement ceremony,
according to the ISIanelm custom, is performed
by two of the Princesses of the Royal family
going to the house of the prospective bride, who
sits on her bed crosslegged, her eyes closed and
awaits their coming. When they arrive at the
house, they go to her bedroom and place a symbol
called Ru Yee, made of pure jade about one and
a half feet long, in her lap and suspend two small
bags made of silk and beautifully embroidered,
each containing a gold coin, from the buttons
of her gown, and place two gold rings on her

A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS Vt

fingers, on which is carved the characters Ta Hsi
(Great Happiness). The meaning of the sym-
bol or sceptre Ru Yee is "May all joy be yours."
During this entire ceremony absolute silence
is maintained and inmiediately they have finished,
they return to the Palace and inform Her
Majesty that the ceremony has been completed.

CHAPTER FIVE

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPRESS

No one informed us the day before that there
was to be an audience to receive tlie Russian
Minister's wife on that very day. AVe told Her
Majesty that we must go and change our clothes
in order to receive this lady. The dresses we
wore that day were very simply made and short.
The reason we wore this kind of costume was
that there was no carpet and the bare brick floor
had ruined our beautiful red velvet gowns, also
the clumsy eunuchs had kept stepping on our
trains all the time. We had made up our minds
that short dresses for general wear every day
would be more practical. Her ]\Iajesty said:
"Why must you cliange your clothes? I see you
look much better without that tail dragging
behind you on the floor. I laughed at the idea
of having a tail on cue's dresses. I noticed that
the first day when you came to the Court."
Before we had time to explain to her, she said:
"I see, dresses with tails behind must be more
dignified than short ones, am I right ?" We told
her it was so. Then she said: "Go and put on
48

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPHESS 49

your most beautiful gowns at once." We imme-
diately went and changed. My sister and my-
self wore our pink crepe de chine gowns, trimmed
with Brussels lace and transparent yokes of the
same color chiffon. My mother wore her gray
crepe de chine embroidered with black roses and
a httle touch of pale blue satin on her collar and
belt. We dressed in a great hurry, as Her
Majesty had sent eunuchs to see if we were ready.
When she saw us she exclaimed; "Here are three
fairies with long tails." Then she asked us: "Is
it very tiring to hold half of your dress in your
hand when you are walking? The costimie is
pretty, but I do dislike the tail, there is no sense
having a thing like that. I wonder what these
foreigners will think of me having you dressed
in their costume. I am sure they won't like the
idea. My reason is this : I want them to see you
in foreign clothes in order to let them understand
I know sometliing about the way they dress. I
must say that no foreign ladies have yet been
presented to me dressed in such lovely gowns
as you three have. I don't beheve foreigners are
as wealtliy as the Chinese. I also notice they
wear very little jewelry. I was told that I have
more jewelry than any sovereign in the world
and yet I am getting more all the time."

We were very busy getting ready to receive
Mdme. Planijon, who arrived about eleven o'clock

50 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

and was received in the waiting room of the first
courtyard by my sister and from there conducted
to the audience hall, Ren Shou Dien, where she
was received by Her Majesty, who was sitting
on her big throne on the raised dais. The Em-
peror was present, sitting on Her Majesty's left
hand and I stood on her right to interpret for
her. Her Majesty was dressed in a yellow
transparent satin brocade gown, embroidered with
hollyhocks and the Chinese character "Shou"
(Long Life) and trimmed with gold braid. She
wore her big pearl, which is about the size and
shape of an egg, suspended from the button of
her dress, also numerous bracelets and rings and
gold finger nail protectors. Her hair was
dressed in the same style as usual.

When Mdme. Plan9on entered the hall, my
sister brought her to the steps of the dais and
she courtesied to Her Majesty. I then went
forward and brought her up onto the dais and
Her Majesty shook hands with her and she pre-
sented the photograph which she had brought
to Her Majesty. Her Majesty made a very
pretty speech of acceptance, expressing her
appreciation of the gift of their Majesties, the
Czar and Czarina. I interpreted this speech in
French to Mdme. Plan^on, as she could not speak
English. After tliis. Her Majesty told me to
take Mdme. Plan9on to the Emperor, which I

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPRESS 51

did. He stood up when she came near and shook
hands with her and asked after their Majesties'
health. This over, Her Majesty stepped down
from her throne and took Mdnie, Planijon to her
own Palace, the one with so many bedrooms, and
when they arrived, Her Majesty asked her to
sit down, and they talked together for about ten
minutes, I interpreting for them, after which I
took her to see the Young Empress.

The Manchu law is very strict as regards the
mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, and the
Young Empress had been sitting behind the
screen at the back of the tlirone during the audi-
ence, and it was there that I found her. From
there we went to the banquet hall, where luncheon
Was served in Manchu style.

Here I must explain the difference between
the Chinese way of eating and the Manchu. The
Chinese place the bowls of food, one at a time,
in the center of the table and everyone eats out
■of these bowls, sticking their chopsticks in and
helping themselves to what they want. The
Manchus eat quite differently and are served with
individual bowls and dishes, the same as in any
other country. Her Majesty was very proud of
this and said that it saved time, not to mention
being cleaner. The food in the Palace was
always very good and clean, especially when we
liad foreign guests, and of course we had a variety

62 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

of dishes for such occasions, such as sharkfins,
birds' nest pudding, not to mention a great quan-
tity of other things.

Her Majesty liad given me the order that
morning to have the tables nicely decorated and
they did look very nice when we sat down.
Besides the usual tableware, we had gold dragon
menu holders, little peach-shaped silver saucers
filled with almonds and dried watermelon seeds,
and knives and forks in addition to chopsticks.

Her Majesty and the Emperor never ate with
guests, so JIdme. Plan^on was entertained by
the Imperial Princess and the Court ladies.
When luncheon was half over a eunuch came and
told me that Her Majesty wanted to see me at
once. The thought flashed through my head that
something had gone wrong, or that some of the •
eunuchs had been making false reports, a bad
habit of the Court; and I was much surprised to
find her all smiles. She told me what a nice,
polite lady Mdme. P]an9on was, that she had
seen many ladies who had come to the Court, but
none with manners like this one, that she was
sorry to say that some of the ladies who came
did not behave very well. She said: "They seem
to think we are only Chinese and do not know
anytliing, and look down upon us. I notice
these things very quickly and am surprised to
see people who claim to be well educated and

View taken from Pei Yeun Dien,
Spreading Cloud Pavilion, Summer Falace

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPRESS 53

civilized acting the way they do. I think we
whom they call barbarians are much more civil-
ized and have better manners." She was always
very polite to the foreign ladies, no matter how
badly they behaved, but after they had gone,
she would tell us who was nice and who was not.
After she had finished saying this, she gave me
a beautiful piece of green jade to give to Madame
Plan^on. When I gave it to her, she said she
wished to thank Her Majesty, and I took her
to the Palace again.

When we had finished luncheon, she told me
how pleased she was with her reception and the
kindness that Her Majesty had shown her, and
took her departure, we accompanying her to the
courtyard of the Audience Hall, where her chair
was waiting.

Her Majesty had made a rule or custom that
after all guests had departed, we must go to her
and report everji:hing. I suppose she was like
ail women, a bit of a gossip as well as the rest;
it appeared so at any rate. She wanted to know
what Mdme. Plancjon said, whether she liked the
jade and whether she enjoyed her luncheon, etc.

Her Majesty was very well pleased that I had
interpreted so well for her and said: "I have
never had anyone to interpret for me this way
before. Although I don't understand the lan-
guage, I can see that you speak it fluently. How

64 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

did you learn? I will never let you go away
from me any more. Sometimes the foreign
ladies bring their own interpreters, but I can't
understand their Chinese and have to guess at
what they are saying, especially some of the mis-
sionaries Mrs. Conger brings with her. I am
very happy to have you and want you to stay
with me as long as I Uve and I will arrange a
marriage for you, but won't tell you just now."

I felt very happy at what Her Majesty had
said and thought I had made my debut under
very favorable auspices, and was very glad that
Her Majesty liked me; but this marriage ques-
tion worried me, for nothing was farther from
my mind than this. I afterwards told my
mother about it and she told me not to worry,
as I could always refuse when the time came.

When we had told Her Majesty all that
Mdme. Plan^on had said, she told us we could
go to our rooms, that as we had risen early that
morning and had worked very hard, we must be
tired and needed rest, that she would not need
us any more that day. We courtesied to her
according to the custom when saying good night,
and retired.

CHAPTER SIX

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY

The building where we had our rooms, as I
have said before, contained four large rooms and
a haU, and we three, my mother, sister and my-
self, each took a room and gave the fourth to
our maids. Her Majesty had ordered a eunuch
to accompany us and this eunucli told us that
Her Majesty had ordered four young eunuchs to
attend on us and that if they did not behave, we
should tell him. He also said his name was Li,
but as there were so many by this name, includ-
ing the head eunuch, it was very hard to tell
them apart.

When we arrived, which took some time, he ,
pointed to a building on our right and said that
it was Her Majesty's own Palace and the one
which we had just left. I could not understand
why it had taken us so long to come, when the
Palace was so near, and asked him about it. He
told us that our little buildings were at the left
side of the Emperor's Palace and that Her
Majesty had had the entrance leading from our
place to her Palace closed up for certain reasons

56 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

which he would not tell, but said: "You see this
place ought to face East instead of towards the
lake." The view on the lake was beautiful and
I told him I liked it much better the way it was.
lie smiled and said: "You will have to learn a.
lot before you find out this wicked place." I
was surprised at what the eunuch said, but did
not like to ask him any questions. He also told
us that the Emperor's Palace was just behind
our place and was a large building similar to
Her Majesty's Palace. We looked and could
see the trees of his courtyard above the roof.
Then he pointed to another building behind the
Emperor's, which was larger but lower than the
Emperor's Palace, and also had a large court-
yard, and said it was the Young Empress's Pal-
ace. It had two buildings flanking it on each
side and the eunuch told us that the one on the
left was the Secondary Wife's bedroom. That
there had been an entrance between the two Pal-
aces, but that Lao Fo Yeh (The great old
Buddha), as the eunuchs called Her Majesty,
had blocked it up so that the Emperor and
Empress could not communicate with each other,
except through Her Majesty's own Palace. I
suppose this was the way she kept watch over
them and knew at all times what they were doing.
This was all news to me and I did not know what
to think of it. I was afraid that this eunuch Li

I
I

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 57

would tell me more of these curious things, so
I told him I was tired and would go to my room
and rest, and he went away.

When I finally got inside my room and had
a chance to look around, I saw that it was very
prettily furnished witli ebonywood furniture,
which was covered with red satin cushions and
the windows were hung with red silk curtains.
All the bedrooms were just alike. The kong
(bed) was made of brick covered with the same
kind of wood and ran along tlie wall under the
front window. It had high teaster posts with
slats running across on which red curtains were
hung. These kongs are very curiously built.
They are made of brick and have a hole in the
front center in which fire is placed to heat the
brick in winter time. During the day a sort of
table is placed on top of the kong and removed
again at night.

Shortly after we had gone to our rooms, some
eunuchs came and brought our dinner, which they
placed on a table in the center of the hall. They
told us the food had been sent by Her Majesty
and that she had ordered them to tell us to make
ourselves comfortable. We were so tired that
we could not eat very much and were about to
retire for the night when this eunuch Li came
again and told us that we must be up at five
o'clock, not later, so I told my eunuch to knock

58 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

on my window at five. Immediately after this
we went to bed, but did not sleep immediately,
as we wanted to talk over the events of the day,
which had been many and strange. After we
did finally get to bed, it seemed as if we had just
fallen asleep when I heard someone knocking on
my window. I woke up with a start and asked
what the matter was and a eunuch told me it
was five o'clock and time to get up.

I immediately got up and opened my window
and looked out. The day was just dawning and
the sky was a beautiful deep red which was
reflected in the lake, which was perfectly calm.
The scenery was lovely and in the distance I
could see Her Majesty's peony mountain, which
was literally covered with these beautiful flowers.
I dressed at once and went to Her Majesty's
Palace and there met the Young Empress sitting
on the veranda. I courtesied to her as a good
morning salute. The Emperor's Secondary wife
was there also, but we had been ordered not to
courtesy to her, as she was considered not to have
any standing there. There was also a number of
young Court ladies, many of whom I had never
seen before. The Young Empress introduced
me to them, saying that they were also Court
ladies. They were daughters of high Manchu
oflBcials and some were very pretty and bright.
The Young Empress told me that these ten

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 69

(there were just ten there) were never allowed
to go near Her Majesty, as they were just learn-
ing the court etiquette. Tliey were all dressed
very nicely in pretty Manchu gowns, the same
design as that worn by the Young Empress.

After I had heen introduced to these young
ladies and talked with them a while, I went inside
with the Young Empress and there met Sze
Gurgur, fourth daughter of Prince Ching and a
young widow twenty-four years of age; Yuen
Da Nai Nai, widow of Her Majesty's nephew.
Both were busy getting things ready for Her
Majesty. The Young Empress told us that
we must go at once to Her Majesty's bedroom
and assist Her Majesty to dress, so we went
at once and courtesied to her and said: "Lao
Tsu Tsung Chi Hsiang" (old ancestor, all joy
be with you). Her Majesty was still in bed
and smiled to us and asked us if we had slept
well. We told her the rooms were very com-
fortable, etc. I thought to myself, we had slept
very well for the little time we had, but I had
not had half enough. The day before had been
very hard for us and we were quite unused to it
and it had made us very lame and sore running
around so much.

She asked us if we had had any breakfast and
we told her not yet. She scolded Li for not
having given the order for our breakfast to be

60 TWO "iTlARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

brought to our rooms and said: "You must not
feel like strangers, order anything you may
want." Then she arose and started to dress.
She put on her wliite silk socks first, having slept
in her pantaloons as is the custom, and tied them
at the ankle wiUi pretty ribbon. I must tell
you here that although she always slept in her
clothes, she changed them for clean ones every
day. Then she put on a pale pink shirt of soft
material and over that a short silk gown, that was
embroidered with bamboo leaves, as she always
wore low heeled shoes in the morning and con-
sequently could not wear her long gowns. After
she had dressed she walked over to a window in
front of which were two long tables covered with
toilet articles of every kind and description.

As she was washing her face and dressing her
hair, she said to my mother that she could not
bear to have the servant girls, eunuchs, or old
women, touch her bed, that they were dirty, so
the Court ladies must make it. When she said
this she turned to my sister and myself, we were
standing a little to one side, and said : "You two
must not think for a moment that the Court la-
dies do servant's work, but you know I am an old
woman and could easily be your grandmother
and it wiU do you no harm to work a httle for
me. When it comes your turn, you can super-
intend the others and don't have to do the work

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 61

with your own hands." Then Her Majesty said
to me: "Der Ling you are a great help to me in
every way and 1 make you my first lady-in-wait-
ing. You must not work too much for you will
have to make all the arrangements for the audi-
ences for foreigners and you will have to inter-
pret for nie. I also want you to look after my
jewels and don't want you to do rough work
at all. Roon Ling (my sister) can choose what
she hkes to do. I have two more besides you,
Sze Gurgur and Yuen Da Nai Nai, making four
altogether and you must all work together. It
is not necessary to be too polite to them and if
they are not nice to you, you let me know."
Although I was very happy at receiving this ap-
pointment, I knew that according to custom I
must refuse it, so I thanked Her Majesty very

t kindly for the honor she had given me and said
that I did not know enough to hold such an
important position and would prefer to be just
an ordinary Court lady, and that I would learn
as quickly as possible to be useful to her. She
hardly let me finish what I was saying, when she
B laughed and said: "Stop! don't say anything Uke
B that; you are too modest, which shows you are
Tery clever and not a bit conceited. I am sur-
prised to see what a perfect little Manchu lady
you are, knowing even such small etiquette as
K this, although you have spent many years outside

62 TWO YEAHS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

of China." She was very fond of making fun
and liked very much to tease, and said that I
could try and if slie saw that I could not do the
work, she would scold me and put someone else
in my place. After all this that she had said, I
accepted the appointment and went over to her
bed to see how it was made, and I found that it
was very easy work to do. As this would be one
of my duties, I watched while the bed was being
fixed. First of all, after Her Majesty had
risen, the bedclothes were taken out into the
courtyard by the eunuchs and aired, then the bed,
which was made of beautifully carved wood, was
brushed off with a sort of whiskbroom, and
a piece of felt placed over it. Then three
thick mattresses made of yellow brocade were
placed over the felt. After this came the sheets
made of different colored soft silk, and over the
whole thing was placed a covering of plain yel-
low satin embroidered with gold dragons and
blue clouds. She had a great many pillows, all
beautifully embroidered, which were placed on
the bed during the daytime ; but had a particular
one stuffed with tea leaves on which sbe slept.
It is said that stuffing the pillow on which you
sleep with tea leaves is good for the eyes. In
addition to all these, she had another very curi-
ously shaped pillow about twelve inches long in
the middle of which was a hole about three inches

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 68

square. It was stuffed with dried flowers, and
the idea of the hole was that when she laid on it
she could place her ear in this hole and in this
way hear any and every sound. I suppose in that
way no one could come on her unawares.

Besides this last yellow embroidered cover,
there were six covers of different colors, pale
mauve, hlue, pink, green and violet, and were
placed one on top of the other. Over the top
of the bed was a frame of wood handsomely
carved and from this frame white crepe curtains,
beautifully embroidered, hung, and numerous Ut-
ile gauze silk bags filled with scent were sus-
pended from the carved work of the frame. The
odor from these bags was very strong and made
one feel sick until they became used to it. Her
Majesty was also very fond of musk and used
it on all occasions.

It took us about fifteen minutes to make the
bed, and when I had finished, I turned around
and saw that Her Majesty was dressing her hair,
I stood beside her Majesty while the eunuch
was dressing it and saw that as old as she was,
she still had beautiful long hair which was as soft
as velvet and raven black. She parted it in the
center and brought it low at the back of her ears,
and the back braid was brushed up on the top
of her head and made it into a tight knot. When
she had finished doing this, she was ready to have

6* TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

the Gu'un Dzan (Manchu headdress) placed on
and pinned through the knot with two large pins.
Her Majesty always dressed her hair first and
then washed her face. She was as fussy and
particular as a young girl and would give it to
the eunuch if he did not get it just to suit her.
She had dozens of bottles of all kinds of perfume,
also perfumed soap. When she had finished
washing her face, she dried it on a soft towel and
sprayed it with a kind of glycerine made of
honey and flower petals. After that she put
some kind of strong scented pink powder on her
face.

When she had completed her toilet, she turned
to me and said: "It must seem to you quite funny
to see an old lady like me taking so much care
and pains in dressing and fixing up. Weill I
like to dress myself up and to see others dress
nicely. It always gives me pleasure to see pretty
girls dressed nicely; it makes you want to be
young again j-ourself." I told her that she
looked quite young and was still beautiful, and
that although we were young we would never
dare compare ourselves with her. This pleased
her very much, as she was very fond of compli-
ments, and I took great pains that morning to
study her and to find out what she hked and
what she didn't.

After this Her Majesty took me into another

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 65

room and showed me where her jewels were kept.
This room was covered with shelves on three
sides of the room from top to bottom, on which
were placed piles of ebony boxes all containing
jewels. Small yellow strips were pasted on some
of the boxes on which was written the contents.
Her Majesty pointed to a row of boxes on the
right side of the room and said: "Here is where
I keep my favorite everyday jewels, and some
day you must go over them and see tliat they are
all there. The rest are all jewels which I wear
on special occasions. There are about three thou-
sand boxes in this room and I have a lot more
locked up in my safety room, which I will show
you when I am not busy." Then she said: "I
am sorry you cannot read and write Chinese,
otherwise I would give you a list of these things
and you could keep a check on them." I was
very much surprised at this and wondered who
had told her I couldn't. I was anxious to know,
but did not dare to ask her, so I told her that
although I was not a scholar, I had studied
Chinese for some time and could read and write
a Uttle, that if she would give me a list I would
try and read it. She said: "That is funny, some-
one told me tlie first day you were here, I forget
now who it was, that you could not read or write
yoiu* own language at all." "While she was say-
ing this, she was looking all around the room and

66 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

I was sure she knew who it was that had told
her, but she would not tell me. Then she said:
"When we have time this afternoon, I will go
over this list with you. Bring me those five
boxes on the first row of shelves." I brought the
boxes to her room and placed them on the table.
She opened the first one and it contained a most
beautiful peony made of coral and jade and each
petal trembled like a real flower. This flower
was made by stringing the petals which were
made of coral on very fine brass wire, also the
leaves which were made of pure jade. She took
this flower and placed it on the right side of her
headdress. Then she opened another box and
took from it a magnificent jade butterfly made in
the same way. This was an invention of her
own and it was done by carving the coral and
jade into petals and leaves and boring holes in
the lower ends through which brass wire was run.
The other two boxes contained bracelets and
rings of different patterns. There was a pair of
gold bracelets set with pearls, another pair set
with jade, with a piece of jade hanging from the
end of a small gold chain, etc. The last two
contained chains of pearls, the hke of which I
never saw before, and I fell in love with them at
once. Her Majesty took one which was made
into a plum blossom string by winding a circle
of five pearls around a larger one, then one single

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 67

pearl, then another circle of five pearls around a
large one, and so on, making quite a long chain,
which she suspended from one of the buttons of
her gown.

At this juncture one of the Court ladies came
in carrying several gowns for Her Majesty to se-
lect from. She looked at them and said that none
of them suited her, to take them hack and bring
more. I had a look at them and thought they
were perfectly lovely, such pretty colors and so
beautifully embroidered. In a short while the
same Court lady came back carrying more, and
from these Her Majesty selected a sea-green one
embroidered all over with white storks. She put
this gown on and looked at herself in tlie mirror
for a while, then took off her jade butterfly. She
said: "You see I am very particular about little
details. The jade butterfly is too green and it
kills my go^vn. Put it back in the box and bring
me a pearl stork in No. 35 box." I went back
to the jewel room and fortunately found No.
35 box and brought it to her. She opened the
box and took from it a stork made entirely of
pearls set in silver, the bird's bill being made of
coral. The pearls making the body of the bird
were so cleverly set that the silver could not be
seen at all unless one looked at it very closely.
It was a most magnificent piece of workmanship
and the pearls were of perfect color and shape.

68 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Her Majesty took it and placed it in her hair
and did look very graceful and pretty. Then she
picked out a mauve-colored short jacket, also em-
hroidered with storks, which she put on over her
gown. Her handkerchief and shoes were also
embroidered with storks and when she was en-
tirely dressed she looked Uke the stork lady.

Just as she had finished dressing, tlie Emperor
Kwang Hsu came into the bedroom dressed in
his official clothes. These clothes were exactly
like other official clothes, except that he had no
button on his hat and did not -wear the peacock
feather. He knelt down before Her Majesty
and said: "Chin Baba, Chi Hsiang" (dear father,
all joy be with you). It may seem curious that
the Emperor and all of us should call Her Maj-
esty father, and the reason why this was done
was because Her Majesty always wanted to be
a man and compelled everyone to address her as
if she were actually one. This was only one of
her many peculiarities.

I did not know whether to courtesy to the Em-
peror or not, not having received any orders as
to what I should do. However, I thought it
better to be too polite than not enough, so I
waited until either he or Her Majesty went out
of the room, as we were not aUowed to salute or
courtesy to anyone in her presence. In a little
while the Emperor went out and I followed him

The Empress Dow.'igur drcHaed In her butaboo leaf crabroidered
robe nnd wearing her famous pearl cape made of
three thousand five hundred pearls of per-
fect slmpe nnd color

IN ATTENDANCE ON HEK MAJESTY 69

out into the hall and just as I was in the act of
courtesying Her Majesty came out. She looked
at me in a very peculiar way, as if she did not
approve of what I had done, hut said nothing.
I felt very uncomfortable and made up my mind
that being too poUte did not always pay after
alL

I then returned to the room again and saw a
small eunuch placing several yellow boxes on a
table at the left side of tlie room. Her Majesty
seated herself in a large chair, which was called
her little throne, and this eunuch opened the
boxes, took a yellow envelope from each box and
handed them to Her Majesty. She opened these
envelopes with an ivory paper knife and read
their contents. They were memorials from the
heads of the different Boards, or from the Vice-
roys of the different Provinces. The Emperor
had come back and was standing at the side of
this table and after she had finished reading, she
handed them over to him. While all this was
being done I stood at the back of her cliair. I
watched the Emperor as the different papers
were handed to him and noticed that it did not
take him very long to finish reading their con-
tents. After he was finished reading the papers,
they were placed back in the boxes. During all
this time absolute silence was maintained. Just
as they had finished the head eunuch came in.

70 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY _

knelt down and announced that Her Majesty's
chair was ready. She immediately got up and
went out of the house, we following her, and I
took her arm while she was descending the steps
to go to her chair. When she had entered the
chair to go to the Audience Hall, the Emperor
and Young Empress and we all followed in our
usual places, the eunuchs, amahs and servant
girls carrying all the things exactly the same as
was done the first day I came to the Palace.
When we arrived at the Audience Hall, we took
our places behind the big screen and the audience
commenced. I was very curious to find out just
how the audiences were conducted and wanted to
listen to what was going on, but the Court ladies
would not leave me alone. However, when they
were all talking together with my sister, I stole
away into a corner where I could sit and rest
and listen to the conversation between the differ-
ent Ministers and Her Majesty. Trust a
woman for being inquisitive.

The first part of the audience I could not hear
very well, as so many people were whispering and
talking at the same time, but by peeping through
the carved-work of the screen, I could see a Gen-
eral talking to Her JVIajesty. I also saw the
members of the Grand Council come in headed by
Prince Ching. who was the CouncIUor-in-Chief.
After the General had fimsiied. Her Majesty

IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY 71

talked with Prince Cliing about the appointment
of some minor officials, a list of whose names had
been handed to her. She looked over this list and
spoke about several of the people, but Prince
Ching suggested some others, saying: "Although
these people whose names have been submitted to
Your Majesty should receive appointments,
those that I have suggested are better fitted for
the positions." Her Majesty said: "All right,
I leave it all to you." Then I heard Her Maj-
esty say to the Emperor, "Is that correct?" and
he replied, "Yes." This finished the Audience
for the morning and the Ministers and Grand
Councillors took their leave. We came out from
behind the screen to Her Slajesty and she said
that she wanted to go for a walk to get some
fresh air. The servant girls brought her a mir-
ror, placed it on a table, and Her Majesty took
off her heavy headdress, leaving the simple knot
on the top of her head, which was quite becom-
ing. She wanted to change some of the flower
jewels and I opened a box which one of the
eunuchs had brought and took out some very
dainty flowers made of pearls. I handed her
one which she placed at the side of this knot, then
she selected a jade dragonfly which she placed
on the other side. She said these small flowers
were favorites of hers and she liked to wear them
when she took off her heavy headdress. I was

72 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

watching her very closely and wondered what I
was going to do with the flowers she had taken
off. I had not brought the boxes to put them
in, as I did not know she was going to change
again after the audience, and felt a little nerv-
ous as to what was the right thing to do, or as
to what she would say. However, I saw a
eunuch come in carrying these boxes and felt
much relieved. I quickly placed the things in
the boxes where they belonged.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SOME INCroENTS OF THE COURT

My first day with Her Majesty was very try-
ing as I did not know just what she wanted or
how she wanted things done, and no one seemed
wiUing to tell me; but by watching very closely
I was soon able to grasp the situation. After I
had finished putting the things in the boxes I
did not know whether to take them back to the
jewel room or not, or whether to wait until Her
Majesty ordered me, and again I was in a quan-
dary. I saw she was talking to my mother, so
I waited a little time and finally made up my
mind I would risk it and take them back, which
I did. As I was returning I met Her Majesty
in the big courtyard. She had just changed her
gown again and looked mucli shorter as she had
also changed her shoes for ones with lower heels.
This gown was made of heavy sky-blue crepe
with no embroidery at all, just trimmed with
pale pink ribbons, and she looked very nice in
it. When Her Majesty saw me, she asked me:
"Where have you been?" I told her that I had
just been putting her jewels away. Then she
73

7* TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

said: "Has anyone told you to put them away
as soon as I am finished with them? I forgot
to tell you this morning, although I had meant
to." I said that no one had told me any1;liing,
that I was afraid to have the eunuchs taking such
valuable things here and there, that I was sure
that she did not want to use tlieni any more, so
I thought it would he safer to put them away in
the jewel room again. Her Majesty looked at
me and said; "I can see that tliese girls don't tell
you anything and I am very glad to see that you
have done just the right thing. That is why I
thought someone must have told you what to do.
Anything you want to know you can ask me, hut
don't talk to these mean people here." I could
see from this that there must be some jealousy
among tliem and decided that I was well able to
find my own way, as I knew Her Majesty hked
me and would help me out.

Her Majesty walked along a little way, tlien
laughed and said to me: "Don't I look more com-
fortable now? I am going for a long walk and
take lunch on the top of the hill. There is a nice
place up there and I am sure you will like it.
Come, let us go."

The Emperor had gone back to his own Pal-
ace, and the head eunuch had also disappeared.
As we were walking along, Her Majesty was
talking and smiling as if she had never a care

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 76

or trouble in the world, or any important ques-
tions of state to settle. I thought from what I
had seen so far that she had a very sweet dispo-
sition. She looked back and said: "Just see how
many people are following us." I turned and
saw the same crowd that had accompanied Her
Majesty earlier in the day to the Audience Hall.

After passing out of the large courtyard on
the West side, we came to a large, long veranda
running in a zig-zag fashion along tlie front of
the lake, and it was so long that I could not see
the end of it. It was very prettily made of solid
carved work from one end to the other. Electric
lights were hanging from the ceiling at intervals,
and when they were lighted at night, made a
beautiful sight.

Her JVIajesty was a very fast walker and we
had to step lively to keep up with her. The
eunuchs and the servant girls walked on the right
side and only one of the eunuchs was allowed to
walk behind us, and he was the one who carried
Her Majesty's yellow satin stool, which, like her
dog, went everj'where she did. This stool she
used to rest on when taking a walk. We walked
for quite a long while and I began to feel tired,
but Her Majesty, as old as she was, was still
walking very fast and did not appear to be the
least bit tired. She asked me if I liked the Pal-
H ace and whether I would be satisfied to live with

76 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

her, etc. I told her that it was a great pleasure
for me to serve her, that it had been my dream
for years, and now that my dream had come true,
I could not help but be satisfied.

We finally arrived at the place where the mar-
ble boat was kept, and I was about finished. I
never saw such vitality in an old woman in my
hfe as Her Majesty had, and it was no wonder
that she had ruled this vast Empire of China so
successfully for so many years.

This boat was magnificent, being one mass of
carved work, but the inside was all spoiled. Her
Majesty showed us all over the boat, and whilst
we were looking at the ruin, she said: "Look at
those colored glasses in the windows and these
beautiful paintings. They were all spoiled by
the foreign troops in 1900. I don't intend to
have it repaired as I don't want to forget the
lesson I have learned and this is a good re-
minder." After we had been standing there a
few minutes, a eunuch who had been carrying
the famous satin stool, came forward, and Her
Majesty sat down to rest. While we were talk-
ing I noticed two large and very fancy-looking
boats approaching us, with several smaller ones
coming along behind. As they came nearer I
saw that they were also very beautifully made,
and looked like floating pagodas of beautifully
carved natural wood. The windows of the

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 77

pagodas were hung with red gauze curtains and
all was trimmed with silk. Her Majesty said:
"There are the boats. We must go over to the
west side of the lake and have luncheon." Her
Majesty got up and walked to the edge of the
lake, two eunuchs supporting her, one at each
side. She stepped into the boat and we all fol-
lowed her example. The inside of the boat was
very nicely furnished with carved ebony furni-
ture ivith blue satin cushions, one with many pots
of flowers on both sides of the window. There
were two more cabins behind this sitting room.
Her Majesty told me to go in to see those two
rooms. One little room was a dressing roran
full of toilet articles. The other one had two
couches and several small chairs for Her
Majesty to rest whenever she felt tired. Her
Majesty sat on her throne and ordered us to sit
on the floor. The eunuchs brought in red satin
cushions for us to sit upon. To sit on the floor
is all right for Chinese clothes, but of course it
was out of the question with Paris gowns, and
I felt very uncomfortable, but did not like to
say so. I wanted to change into Manchu clothes,
for I knew they were comfortable and easy to
work in, but having received no order from Her
Majesty, I did not dare to suggest it. Her
Majesty noticed how very uneomfortable we
looked sitting on the floor. She said : "You can

T8 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

stand up if you want to and just watch those
boats following us." I put my head out of the
window and noticed the Young Empress and
several other Court ladies were in the other boat.
They waved to me, and I waved back. Her
Majesty laughed and said to me: "I give you
this apple to throw to them." While saying this
she took one from the big plates that stood upon
the center table. I tried very hard, but the
apple did not reach the other boat, but went to
the bottom of the lake. Her Majesty laughed
and told me to try again, but I failed. Finally,
she took one and threw it herself. It went
straight to the other boat and hit one of the
ladies' head. We all laughed quite heartily.
Then I began to enjoy myself. There were
several open boats full of eunuchs, and another
one of servant girls, amahs and the rest with
Her Majesty's luncheon. The lake was beau-
tiful and looked so green in tlie sun, I told Her
JIajesty that this color reminded me of the sea.
She said: "You have travelled so much, and yet
you have not had enough, but are still thinking
of the sea. You must not go abroad any more,
but stay with me. I want you to enjoy this
sailing on this lake Instead of the rough sea."
I promised her that I would be only too happy
to stay with her. I must say the truth, I did
enjoy the lovely scenery, the beautiful weather,

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 79

I sunshine,

< kind 1

ler Majesty :
me and talking to me in such a motherly way
made me love her more and more every minute
I was there. I was so extremely happy there
that even Paris pleastu-es had gone out of my
memory entirely.

At last we arrived at another part of the lake.
This was more of a stream, very narrow, just
wide enough for one hoat to pass. On hoth
sides of the hank were planted drooping willow
trees that reminded me of the Chinese Fairy
tales I have read. Tliis time I saw the servant
girls, amahs, and also eunuchs carrj'ing boxes,
walking on both sides of the shore. Only two
boats were going then, the Young Empress' and
ours. Her Majesty said: "We will arrive at
the bottom of the hill in a few minutes." When
we came near the shore I saw her yellow chair
and several red chairs waiting. We landed and
walked to the chairs. I watched Her Majesty
get into hers and noticed this was not the same
chair she used this morning. This little one was,
of course, of yellow, with yellow poles, and two
eunuchs carried it, with yellow rope across their
shoulders, and four eunuchs supported the poles,
one on each corner of the chair. They were just
going to raise her chair up when she said: "Yii
tai tai {Lady Yii) I give you and your daugh-
ters special favor and give you a red chair with

80 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CI'IY |

red cord that I have given to only a few people."
The Young Empress looked at us, which I un-
derstood at once was meant for us to kowtow to
her, which we did, and waited until the Empress
got into hers. Then we went to search for ours.
To my surprise our own eunuchs were standing
waiting beside our chairs. On the poles I noticed
that my name was written and I asked our
eunuch the reason. He said that Her Majesty
gave the order the night before. It was a lovely
ride going to the top of the hiU. I saw Her
Majesty's chair in front, and the Young Em-
press'. They looked to me quite dangerous in
ascending that way, and the men at the back
of the chair had to raise the poles above their
heads so as to make the chair the same level
in ascending. I was quite nervous and was
very much afraid that they might fall off and
injure me. Our eunuchs were walking beside
our chairs. I said to one of them that I was
afraid the chair bearers might slip. He told
me to look back of my chair, which I did, and
to my surprise they had the poles raised up also
above their beads, and I did not feel it at aU.
He told me that these chair bearers practice for
such purposes and that there was no danger at
all. It made my heart stop beating looking back
and seeing the other Court ladies in their chab-s
way below mine, the eunuchs and servant girls

Tlie EmjiFL-ss Dowager, Ladj Yii, Lady Roong Ling

(uiother and sister of the writer) and the writer, going

down Peony Hill in the winter time

• • •

• • •
• • •

•

• •

• •••-

•• •

.• •.

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 81

walking, for fear I might fall off at any time.
At last we arrived at the top of the hill. We
helped Her Majesty to alight and followed her
into the most lovely building I ever saw, the best
one in the Summer Palace to my idea (name of
this pavilion, Ching Fo Ker). This Palace
had only two rooms, with windows on every side.
One could see everywhere. Her Majesty used
one large one to take her luncheon in and the
other as a toilet room. I noticed that wherever
we went we found Her Majesty's toilet room.
Her Majesty took us around the compound and
showed us the lovely flowers planted everywhere.
One of the young eunuchs told me that Her
Majesty's dainties were ready. That was my
first day of real work. I went out and found
two large yellow boxes of different kinds of can-
dies and fruits, as I have before mentioned. I
carried two plates at a time, and finished in nine
times, placing them on a square table near her.
She was talking to my mother then about flow-
ers. I noticed that although she was talking, she
was watching me at the same time. I placed the
plates upon the table very carefully, and already
having noticed the day before what were her

I favorite dishes, and placed these near her. She
smiled at me and said: "You have done it very
nicely. And how do you know that these are
my favorites and have placed them near me?

I
I

88 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Who told you ?" I replied that no one had told
me anything and that I had noticed the day
before what Lao Tsu Tsung liked (according to
the Manehu custom one must address a superior
or one's parents in the third person). Her
Majest}' said: "I can see you use your heart in
everything {in China people say heart instead
of head) and are not like the crowd I have here;
they haven't the brains of a bird." She was soon
busy eating, and gave me some candies, and told
me to eat right there in her presence. Of course
I never forgot to thank her, for I thought I had
rather thank her too much than too httle. She
told me: ''Whenever I give you small things
you need not kowtow. Just say : 'Hsieh Lao Tsu
Tsung Shang' (Thank the old ancestor), that is
enough." After a little while she finished eat-
ing, and told me to take the dishes away. She
said: "To-day is your day, so these things are
yours. Take them out and sit down on the
veranda and enjoj' yourself. You see I could
not eat all. There are lots of things left. If
you like you cau tell your own eunuch to send
them to your room." I placed the little dishes
back in the boxes and took them to the veranda.
There I placed them upon the table and told the
Young Empress to eat some. I did not know
whether it was right to offer Ihem to her or not
and thought I could not do her any harm, even

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 88

if I tried. She said all right, that she would eat
some. I took a piece of candy and had just put
it into my mouth when I heard Her Majesty
calling my name. I hurried in and found her
sitting at her table ready to take her lunch. She
said : "What else did Mdme. Plan9on say yester-
day? Was she really pleased? Do you think
they, the foreigners, really hke me? I don't
think so; on the contrary I know they haven't
forgotten the Boxer Rising in Kwang Hsu's 26th
year. I don't mind owning up that I like our
old ways the best, and I don't see any reason
why we should adopt the foreign style, Did
any of the foreign ladies ever tell you that I
am a fierce-looking old woman?" I was very
much surprised that she should call me in and
ask me such questions during her meal. She
looked quite serious and it seemed to me she was
quite annoyed. I assured her that no one ever
said anything about Her Majesty but nice
things. The foreigners told me how nice she
was, and how graceful, etc. This seemed to
please her, and she smiled and said: "Of course
they have to tell you that, just to make you feel
happy by saying that your sovereign is perfect,
but I know better. I can't worry too much, hut
I bate to see China in such a poor condition.
Although the people around me seem to comfort
me by telling that almost every nation feels very

84 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

friendly towards China, I don't think that is
true. I hope we will be strong some day."
While she was saying this I noticed her worried
expression. I did not know what to say, but
tried to comfort her by saying that that time will
come, and we are all looking foi-ward to it. I
wanted to advise her on some points, but seeing
that she was angry, I thought I had better not
make any suggestions that day, but wait until
I had another opportunity. I felt sorry for her,
and would have given anything in the world to
help her by telling what the general opinion of
her was so as to let her know the truth, which no
one dared to tell her. Sometliing told me to be
silent. I kept thinking all the time she was talk-
ing to me, and finally made up my mind that
the time was not yet ripe for me to make any
suggestion. I had grown to love her very much,
so I wanted to take care not to offend her; that
would probably finish my ambition. I wanted to
study her first thoroughly and then try to influ-
ence her to reform China.

I stood all the time while she was eating. She
got up from the table and handed me her napkin
(this napkin was made of a piece of silk a yard
square, woven in many colors ) . One corner was
turned in, and a golden butterfly was fastened
to it. It had a hook at the back of this butter-
fly so as to hook on her collar. She said: "I

t
I
I

SOME INCroENTS OF THE COURT 85

am sure you must be hungry. Go and tell the
Young Empress and the rest of the people to
come and eat. You can eat anything you want
from these tables, so eat all you can." I was
very, very hungry. Just imagine, I had been up
since 5 :00 o'clock and had only a light breakfast,
and had walked a great deal. It was almost
noon when Her Majesty sat down at her table.
She ate so slowly, too. While I stood there
talking to her I thought she would never finish.
She ate a good meal. The Young Empress
stood at the head of the table, and we all stood on
either side. We did not like to be forward, so
we stood at the other end of the table. The food
was very much the same as the first day we were
there. Her Majesty came out from the inner
room, had just finished washing her face and
hands, and had changed into another gown.
This one was simple, but very pretty. It was
woven with pink and gray raw silks, which gave
it a changeable light whenever she moved. She
came out and said: "I want to see you people
eat; why is it that you are standing at the end
of the table, the best dishes are not there? All
of you come over here and eat near the Young
Empress." So we moved from our end of the
table to the other. Her ISIajesty stood near me,
and pointed to a smoked fish and wanted me to
trj- it, as it was her favorite, and said: "Make

86 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

yourselves at home. You know you have to ]
fight your own battles here with this crowd. '
course you can come and tell me if anyone does
not treat you fair." Her JSIajesty then went
out, saying that she would walk a bit. I noticed
that some of the court ladies did not look ]
pleased, seeing that Her Majesty paid so much -
attention to us. I could see they were a Uttle
jealous of me, but that did not worry me in the
least.

After we got tlirough our luncheon, I followed
the Young Empress, for it was all so new to me,
and I did not know what I must do— whether
to join Her JIajesty or not. After seeing that
they were jealous of me, I paid strict attention
to everj'thing, so as not to make any mistake in
doing my work and let them have the satisfac-
tion of laughing at nie. I would not give them
the chance. I heard Her JIajesty talking to the
eunuchs who locked after the garden, about some
branches which ought to be cut down, saying they
were lazy. So we went to her. She said to us;
"You see I have to look after ever\-thing myself,
if not, my flowers would be ruined. I can't de-
pend on them at all. I wonder what tbej- are
good for. They ought to look aroimd everj* day
and cut down the dead branches and leaves.
They have not been punished for several days and
th^ are looking forward to it." She laughed

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 87

and said: "I will not disappoint them, but give
them all they wish to have." I thought these peo-
ple must be idiots, looking forward to a whip-
ping, and wondered who would whip them. Her
Majesty turned to me and said: "Have you ever
witnessed such an operation?" I told her that I
had, having seen the convicts being whipped at a
Magistrate's Yamen when I was a httle girl liv-
ing at Shansi (on the Yangtsze). She said:
"That is nothing. The convicts are not half so
wicked as these eunuchs. Of course they deserve
a heavier punishment when they are bad." Her
Majestj' said that I should learn to play dice with
her, as she never had enough people to play with,
so we went back to the same room where she had
taken her lunch. A square table was in the mid-
dle of this large room and a Uttle throne of Her
Majesty's, facing south (her favorite du-ection).
Her Majesty sat on her throne and said to me:
"I will show you how to play this game. Do
you think you know enough Chinese to read this
map?" I noticed a large map, the same size as
the table, and laid upon it, drawn in different
colors. In the center of the map was written
the direction of the game. It said; "This game
is called the 'Eight Fairies Travel across the Sea.'
The names are Lu Hsien, Chang Hsien, Li
Hsien, Lan Hsien, Hang Hsien, Tsao Hsien
and Hain Hsien. These seven were masculine

88 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

fairies. Hor Hsien was the only lady fairy."
This map was the map of the Chinese Empire,
and the names of the different provinces were
written on the drawing. There were eight pieces
of round ivory, about one inch and a half in diam-
eter and a quarter of an inch thick. The names
of these fairies were engraved upon them. This
game could be played either by eight people or
four people, when each person had to take two
fairies' places, instead of one. A porcelain bowl
was placed in the center of the map, to compare
the point by throwing six dice into the bowl.
For instance, four people play. One throws
these sis dice into the bowl and counts the points
on them. The highest that one could get was 36,
and should 36 be thrown the fairy should go to
Hangchow to enjoy the beautiful scenery. This
person threw dice for IvU Hsien and had 36
points and placed this ivory piece of Lu Hsien
on Hangchow upon the map. The same person
has to throw another time for another fairy, so
each person throws twice if four people play the
game, and once if played by eight. These dif-
ferent points count different provinces. They
are counted thus: — Six dice alike. One pair in
six dice, to three pairs. The lowest was the
double I, 2, 3. If any unfortunate fairy got this
he should go on exile and be left out altogether.
Any one of the fairies that travelled round the

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 89

map to reach the Imperial Palace, the first, was
the winner.

I read this to Her Majesty. She seemed to
be quite pleased, and said: "I had no idea that
you could read so well. This game was my own
invention and I taught three Court ladies to
play, I had a very hard time teaching them.
I also taught them how to read Chinese in order
to play the game, but it took them so long to
learn anything that I got quite discouraged
before I got through with them. I am sure you
know how to play it now." I was very much
surprised to hear that these Court ladies were
as ignorant as this. I thought they must be
excellent scholars, so did not dare to show my
knowledge of Chinese literature. We began to
play the game. Her Majesty was lucky.
The two fairies held by her were way ahead of
ours. One of the Court ladies said to me: "You
will be surprised to see that Lao Tsu Tsung is
always the winner," Her Majesty smiled and
said to me; "You will never be able to catch my
fairies." She said : "You are the first day here to
play this game and if any of your fairies beat
any of mine I will give you a nice present, so
hurry up." I thought I could never get ahead
of her fairies, for they were so far ahead of mine,
but I tried hard, as Her Majesty told me to
call out for the points I wanted. I did, but

90 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

it came out something so different that it amused
her a great deal. I had no idea how long we
were playing this game. We counted who came
next, and that was one of my fairies, so Her
Majesty said to me: "I was sure j'ou could not
beat me, as no one could. Seeing that yours are i
next to mine, I will give you the present just I
the same." While she was saying this she told
a servant girl to bring her some embroidered
handkerchiefs. This girl brought several col-
ored ones to her, and she asked me what color I
preferred. She handed me a pink one and a.
pale blue one, all embroidered with purple
wisteria, and said: "These two are the best, and
I want you to take them." I was just going
to thank her by bowing to the ground, but I
found that my legs could not move. I tried
hard and succeeded finally, with difficulty. Her
Majesty laughed very heartily at me and said:
"You see you are not accustomed to standing
so long and you cannot bend your knees any
more." Although my legs were sore I thought
I had better not show it, but smiled and told her
that it was nothing, only my legs were a little
stiff, that was all. She said: "You must go and
sit on the veranda and rest a minute." I was
only too glad to sit down, so I went to the
veranda and found the Young Empress sitting
there with several Court ladies. The Young

• • •

• ••

• •

•• •

.••:•..••

•

• •

• •,

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 91

Empress said: "You must be tired standing so
long. Come and sit near me." My legs were
very stiff and my back was tired. Of course
Her Majesty did not know how uncomfortable
we were while she was sitting on her cozy throne.
Foreign attire is out of the question for the Im-
perial Palace of Peking. I had hoped that Her
Majesty would tell us to cliange into our Manchu
gowns. I noticed that she asked many questions
every day about foreign costumes, and she said:
"The foreign costume is not any prettier than
ours and I should say they must be quite uncom-
fortable round one's waist. I wouldn't be
squeezed that way for anytliing." Although she
was saying such things she did not suggest that
we should give them up, so we had to wail
patiently for her orders. The Young Empress
took her watch out of her pocket, and said to
me: "This game has lasted just two hours." I
said to her that it seemed to me longer than that.
While we were talking I saw our own eunuchs
bringing four round boxes, made of thin board,
carried at each end of bamboo poles. They put
them down near where we sat, and one of them
brought me a cup of tea. Wlien my mother and
sister came the same eunuch brought another two
cups, and there were several Court ladies talking
with us. This eunuch did not give them any.
I noticed at the other end of this long veranda

^B I noticed at

93 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

there were another two boxes, exactly the same
as these, and a big tall eunuch made tea and
brought it to the Young Empress in a yellow
porcelain cup, with a silver saucer and a silver
top cover. He did not give any to the others.

I was puzzled when one of the Court ladies sit-
ting next to me said: "Would you mind telling
Wang (our head eunuch) to give me a cup of
your tea, just to save me the trouble to go and
get it from the small room at the end of this long
veranda?" I gave her such a surprised look,
for I did not know that this was our tea, but I
thought I'd just tell Wang to bring her a cup,
and find out afterwards tlie reason, for I would
give anything in the world rather than appear
ignorant before those people. While we were
talking Her Majesty came out. Before she
reached the veranda I got up and told the Young
Empress that Her Majesty was coming. I saw
her first because I sat facing her back hall.
Her Majesty said to us all: "It is almost three
o'clock now, and I am going to rest a while. Let
us leave here." We all stood in a line for her to
enter her chair, and then we went to ours. It
was quite a fast ride and we got out of our chairs
before arriving at the courtyard of her own Pal-
ace. We walked ahead of her chair and formed
into another line for her to alight. She walked
to her bedroom and we all followed. A eunuch

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT 93

brought her a cup of hot water and another
brought a bowl of sugar. She took her golden
spoon and took two teaspoonfuls of sugar and
put it into her cup of hot water, and drank it
very slowly. She said: "You know before one
goes to sleep or ever lies down, sugar water will
quiet one's nerves. I always take it, and find it
very good indeed." She took the flowers off
from her headdress and I fixed them back in their
boxes at once, and placed them in the jewel-
room. When I came out of this jewel-room
she was in bed already, and said to us: "You all
go and rest a while. I don't need you now."

THE COURT LADIES

We retired from her room, but I noticed that
two of the Court ladies did not come out with
us. One of them said to me: "I am glad that
I can rest a bit to-day, for I have been sitting
three afternoons in succession." At first I did
not know what she meant. Then she said: "Oh,
your turn has not come yet. We don't know
whether you received the order or not. You
know two of us must stay with Her Majesty dur-
ing her afternoon siesta, to watch the eunuchs
and the servant girls." I thought tliat was the
funniest thing I had ever heard of, and wondered
how many people would he in her room. The
Young Empress said: "We had better go at once
and rest ourselves, otherwise Her Slajesty will
be up again before we get the cliance." Of
course I had not the least idea how long she
slept. So we went back to our rooms. I did
not realize how tired I was until I sat down in
my room. I felt finished and awfully sleepy at
the same time, for I was not used to getting up
at 5 o'clock. Everything was so new to me.

THE COURT LADIES

Asl

t there i

. thought ]

' thoughts wandered to Paris,
w strange it was that I used
to go to bed at 5 o'clock after the dances, and
here I had to get up at such a time. All the sur-
roundings seemed new to me, seeing the eunuchs
nmning here and there waiting on us, as if they
were chamhermaids. I told them that I didn't
need them any more. I wanted them to go out
of the room so that I could he down a bit. They
brought us tea and different kinds of candies, and
asked what else was wanted. I was just going
to change into a comfortable dress, when the
eunuch came in and informed me that "Yo ker
lila" (visitors have come), and two Court ladies
came, and another girl of about seventeen came
in. I had seen her that very morning when I
came to the Palace, busy working, but I was not
introduced to her. These two girls said: "We
have come to see you and also to find out if you
are comfortable." I tliought they were kind to
come and see me that way, but I did not hke their
faces. They introduced this mean-looking girl
to me and told me her name was Chun Shou
(Graceful Long Life). She did not look as if
her life would last long, being so thin and deli-
cate. She looked sick and worn out to me. I
did not know who she was. She courtesied to me
and I returned to her, in a sort of half way. (I
will explain about the courtesy. )

96 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

{To Her Majesty, the Emperor and the
Young Empress, we went down and bent our
knees, while we stood upright to the people of
lower rank than ourselves. In this case one must
always wait while the inferior courtesies first,
and bend the knees a little bit in return. Tliis
was the way I returned Chun Shou's courtesy to
me.) The two girls then said "Chun Shou's
father is only a small official, so she has not much
standing at the Court. She is not exactly a
Court lady, but she is not a servant gjrl either."
I almost laughed right out, to hear such a funny
statement, and wondered what she must be. I
saw her sitting down with the Court ladies that
very morning, so of course I asked her to sit
down, too. These two Court ladies asked me if
I felt tired, and how I hked the Empress Dow-
ager. I told them that Her Majesty was the
most lovely lady I had ever seen, and that I al-
ready loved her very much, although I had only
been there a few days. They looked at Chun
Shou and exchanged smiles. They did that in
such a peculiar way that it annoyed me. They
asked: "Do you tliink you would like to live
in this place, and how long do you intend to
stay?" I said I would love to stay long, and
would do my best to wait on Her Majesty, and
be useful to her, for she had been so kind towards
us in the short time we had been there, and

THE COURT LADIES

ffr

besides, it was my duty to serve my sovereign
and country. They laughed and said : "We pity
you, and are sorry for you. You must not
expect any appreciation here, no matter how hard
you work. If you are really going to do as you
have said just now, you will be disliked by every-
body."

I did not know what they were talking
about, or what their conversation referred to. I
thought this was so strange that I had better put
a stop to it, so I immediately changed the sub-
ject. I asked them who dressed their hair, and
who made their shoes for them, as they had asked
me. They answered my questions by saying
that their maids did everything for them. Chun
Shou said to these two girls ; "Tell her everj'thing
about this Palace, and I am sure she will change
her mind when she actually sees tilings for her-
self." I didn't Uke this Chun Shou, and her face
didn't impress me. She was a little bit of a thing,
tiny head with tiiin lips. When she laughed one
could only hear the noise she made; no expres-
sion was on her face at all. I was just going
to say something to them, so as not to give them
the opportunity of gossipping, but found they
were too cunning. They noticed that I tried
every way to stop them, so they said: "Now let
us tell you everj'thing. No one else will know.
We Uke you very much and we want to give you

98 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

some warning, so as to be able to protect yourself
whenever you are in trouble." I told them that
I would take great care to do my work and didn't
think that I would ever get into trouble. They
laughed and said: "That makes no difference.
Her Majesty will find fault." I could not
believe these things that they said, and intended to
tell them that I refused to hear such statements,
but I thought I had better listen to what they
had to say first and not to offend them, for I
never believed in making enemies. I then told
them that it would he impossible for so sweet and
kind-hearted a person like Lao Tsu Tsung (the
old ancestor) to find fault with such helpless girls
as we were, for we were her people, and she could
do anything she liked with us. They said: "You
don't know, and have no idea how wicked this
place is; such torture and suffering one could not
imagine. We are sure that you think you must
be happy to he with the great Empress Dowager,
and proud to be her Court Lady. Your day
hasn't come yet, for you all are new to her. Yes,
she is extremely kind to you just now, but wait
until she gets tired of you and then see what she
will do. We have had enough, and know what
the Court Ufe is. Of course you must liave heard
that Li Lien Ying (the head eunuch) rules this
Palace behind Lao Tsu Tsung's back. We are
all afraid of liim. He pretends that he cannot

THE COURT LADIES 99

influence Lao Tsu Tsung, but we always know
the result after a long conversation consulting
how to punish anyone. If any of us do anything
wrong, we always go to hini and beg him to help
us out. Then he says he has no power to influ-
ence Her Majesty, and also that lie dare not tell
her much, for she would scold him. We hate all
the eunuchs, they are such bad people. We can
see very plainly they are awfully polite to you
because they can see that you are in favor. To
receive such rudeness from them, constantly, as
we do, is unbearable.

"Lao Tsu Tsung is very changeable. She
may like one person to-day, to-morrow she hates
this same person worse than poison. She has
moods, and has no appreciation whatsoever.
Even Chu Tzu, the Young Empress (Chu Tzu
means Mistress, that is to say she was mis-
tress of us all, for the Manchus were consid-
ered by the sovereign as slaves) is afraid of
Li Lien Ying, and has to be very nice to him.
In fact, we all have to be polite to him." They
talked so long that I thought they would never
finish. About this time Wang came in and
brought tea for us. Suddenly I heard people
howling in the distance, so I asked Wang what
was the matter. The girls were listening also
and a eunuch came flying in and told us Lao Fo
Yeh chin la (The Great Buddha wakes up).

100 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

The girls got up and said we must all go to see
her, so they went. I was not at all pleased with
their visit, and wished they hadn't come, espe-
cially as tlicy told me such horrible things. It
made me quite sad to listen to the awful way they
talked ahout Her Majesty. I loved her tlie first
day I was there, and made up my mind to forget
everything they had told me.

I was cross also because I didn't have time to
change my clothes, and liad to go up to Her
Majesty at once. I went into her bedroom, and
found her sitting upon the bed crosslegged, with
a small table placed on the bed in front of her.
She smiled and asked: "Have you had a good
rest? Did you sleep at all?" I said that I was
not sleepy, and could not sleep in the daj'time.
She said: "When you are old like me, you will
be able to sleep at any time. Just now you are
young, and fond of play. I think you must have
been on the hills to gatlier flowers, or walked too
much, for you look tired." I could only say
"Yes." The two Court ladies who had just been
talking nonsense about Her Majesty came In, to
assist in handing her the toilet articles. I looked
at them, and felt ashamed for them to face her,
after having said so many disagreeable things.
Her Majesty washed her face and combed her
hair, and a servant girl brought her fresh flowers,
of white jasmine and roses. Her Majesty stuck

THE COURT LADIES lOlv,

them in her hair and said to me: "I am always
fond of fresh flowers — better than jade and
pearls. I love to see the little plants grow, and
I water them myself. I have heen so busy ever
since you came that I haven't been able to visit
my plants. Tell them to get the dinner ready
and I will take a walk afterwards." I came out
of her room and gave the eunuch the order. As
usual we brought little dainties to her. By this
time Her Majesty was dressed and was sitting in
the large hall, playing solitaire with her domi-
noes. The eunuch laid the tables as usual, and
Her Majesty stopped play, and conunenced to
eat. She asked me: "How do you like this kind
of life?" I told her that I very much enjoyed
being with her. She said: "What kind of a
place is tliis wonderful Paris I have heard so
much about? Did you enjoy yourself while you
were there, and do you wish to go back again?
It must be Iiard for you people to leave China
for tlnee or four years, and I suppose you were
all pleased when you received the order to come
back, after your father's term was finished."

The oidy thing 1 could say was "Yes," be-
cause it wouldn't be nice to tell her that I was
awfully sorry to leave Paris. She said: "I
think we have everything in China, only the
life is different. What is dancing? Some-
one told me that two people hold hands and

•-.•.102 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

jump all over the room. If that is the case I
don't see any pleasure in it at all. Do you have
to jump up and down with men? They told me
that old women, with white hair, dance, too." I
explained to her about the balls given by the
President, and all the private dances, and also
all about the masquerade balls, etc. Her
Majesty said: "I don't hke this masquerade ball
because you don't know whom you are dancing
with if they are wearing a mask." I explained
to her how carefully the people issued their invi-
tations, and that anyone who behaved badly could
never enter into high society. Her Majesty said :
"I would like to see how you jump, can you
show me a little?" I went in search of my sister,
and found her busy talking to the Young
Empress. I told her that Her Majesty wished
to see how people dance, and that we must show
her. The Young Empress and all the Court
ladies heard this, and all said that they also wished
to see. My sister said that she had noticed a
large gramophone in Her Majesty's bedroom,
and that perhaps we could find some music. I
thought that was a good idea, and went to ask
her for the gramophone. She said: "Oh, must
you jump with music?" I almost laughed when
she said that, and told her it was much nicer
with music, as otherwise one could not keep in
time. She ordered the eunuchs to have the

THE COURT LADIES

108

I
I

gramophone brought to the hall, and said : "You
jump while I take my dimier." We looked over
a lot of records, but they were all Chinese songs,
but at last we found a waltz, so we started to
dance. We could see that a lot of people were
looking at us, who perhaps thought that we were
crazy. When we had finished we found Her
Majesty laughing at us. She said: "I could
never do that. Are you not dizzy turning round
and round? I suppose your legs must he very
tired also. It is very pretty, and just like the
girls used to do centuries ago in China. I know
that it is difficult and one ought to have any
amount of grace to do it, but I don't think
it would look nice to see a man dancing with a
girl like that. I object to the hand around the
girl's waist ; I like to see the girls dance together.
It would never do for China for a girl to get
too close to a man. I know the foreigners don't
seem to think about that at aU. It shows that
they are broader minded than us. Is it true that
the foreigners don't respect their parents at all —
that they could beat their parents and drive them
out of the house?" I told her that it was not
so, and that someone had given her wrong ideas
about foreigners. Then she said: "I know that
perhaps sometimes one among the commonest
class do that, and that people are apt to take it
wrong, and conclude that all foreigners treat

104 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

their parents that way. Now I see just the same
thing done by the common people in China." I
wondered who had told her such nonsense and
made her believe it.

After we had taken our dinner it was just half-
past five, and Her JIajesty said she would take
a walk along the long veranda, so we followed
her. She showed me her flowers, and said that
slie had planted them herself. Whenever Her
Majesty went anywhere there was always a lot
of attendants following her, exactly the same as
when she went to the morning audiences. When
we reached the end of this long veranda, which
took us a quarter of an hour to walk. Her
Majesty ordered her stool to be brought into
one of the summer houses. These summer
houses were built of nothing but bamboo, all the
furniture being made of different shaped bam-
boo. Her !Majesty sat down, and one of the
eunuchs brought tea and honeysuckle flowers.
She ordered the eunuchs to give us tea also. Her
Majesty said: "This is my simple way of enjoy-
ing life. I love to see the eountiy scenery.
There are a great many pretty places which I
will show you and I am sure that after you have
seen them you will not like foreign countries
any more. There is no scenery in the world
which can beat the Chinese. Some returned
Ministers from abroad said to me that the trees

THE COURT LADIES 105

and mountains in foreign countries looked ugly
and savage. Is that true?" I concluded right
away that someone had wished to please her by
saying things about foreigners, so I told her that
I had been in almost every country, and had
found lovely scenery, but of course it was dif-
ferent from China. While we were talking Her
Majesty said that she felt chilly and asked:
"Are you cold? You see you have your own
eunuchs, they are all standing around, and have
nothing to do. Next time tell them to carry
your wraps along with you. I think that for-
eign clothes must be quite uncomfortable — either
too warm or too cold. I don't see how you can
eat, having your waist squeezed that way." Her
Majesty got up and we all went on walking
slowly towards her own Palace. She sat down
on her favorite little throne in the hall and
started to play solitaire. We came out on the
veranda, and the Young Empress said to us:
"You must be tired, for I know you are not used
to doing such hard work all day long without
stopping. You had better wear Manchu clothes,
because they are comfortable and easy to work
in. Look at your long train; you have to take
it up in your hands while walking."

I told her that I would be only too pleased to
change the clothes, but that not having received
an order from Her Majesty I could not make

106 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

any suggestions. The Young Empress said:
"No, don't ask anything, and I am sure Her
Majesty will tell you to change by and by. Just
now she wishes to see your Paris gowns, because
she wants to know how foreign ladies dress on
different occasions. She thought that some of
the ladies came to the Garden Party dressed in
woolen clothes. We thought that foreign ladies
were not so extravagant as we are until we met
Mdme. Plan(;on the other day. Do you remem-
ber what Her Majesty said to you? 'That
Mdme. Plan^on was so different from many la-
dies she had met, and also dressed differently.' "
It was a chiffon dress, with hand paintings, which
Mdme. Plan^on wore, which pleased Her Maj-
esty very much. While I was talking with the
Young Empress all the electric lights turned up,
so I went to Her Majesty to see if she needed
anything. She said: "Let us play a game of
dice before I go to bed." We began to play the
same thing as we had done in the afternoon.
Her Majesty won another game, this time it took
only an hour to finish the game. Her Majesty
said to me: "Why can't you win once?" I knew
she wanted to tease, so I said that my luck was
bad. She laughed and said: "To-morrow you
try to put your stocking on wrong side out ; that
is a sure sign of winning." I told her that I
would, and I knew that pleased her. During the

THE COURT LADIES 107

short time I was there I kept studying her most
of the while. I could see notliing would make
her happier than for me to obey her orders.
Her Majesty said that she felt tired, and that
we must bring her milk. She said to me: "I
want you to bum incense sticks and bow to the
ground every night to the Buddha in the next
room before I go to bed. I hope you are not
a Christian, for if you are I can never feel as
if you are mine at all. Do tell me tliat you are
not." X did not expect that question at all, and
I must say that it was a very difficult question
to answer. For my own protection I had to say
that I had nothing to do with the Christians. T
felt guilty at having deceived her that way, hut
it was absolutely necessary, and there was no
other way out of it. I knew that I had to
answer her question at once, because it would
never do for her to see any hesitation, which
would arouse her suspicions. Although my face
showed nothing, my heart stopped beating for a
while. I felt ashamed to have fooled her. The
earliest training I had was never to be ashamed
to tell the truth. When Her Majesty heard me
say that I was not a Christian, she smiled and
"I admire you; although you have had so
much to do with foreigners, yet you did not adopt
their religion. On the contrary, you still keep
to your own. Be strong and keep it as long

108 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

as you live. You have no idea how glad I am
now, for I suspected you must believe in the
foreign God. Even if you don't want to, they
can make you believe it. Now I am ready for |
bed."

We helped her to undress, and I, as usual, put
away her jewels, and noticed she wore only one
pair of jade bracelets to sleep. She changed
into her bed clothes and lay down between the
silk covers and said to us: "You can go now."
We courtesied to her and withdrew from her
bedroom. Out in the hall there was on the cold
stone floor six eunuchs. They were the watch-
men and must not sleep at all during the night.
In her bedroom were two eunuchs, two servant
girls, two old women sen'ants and sometimes two
Court ladies. These people also must not sleep.
The two girls massaged her legs every night, and
the two women were there to watch the girls, the
two eunuchs to watch the two old women, and
the two Court ladies to watch them all, in case
they did any mischief. They all took turns, and
that was the reason why sometimes two Court
ladies must sit overnight when it happened that
the eunuchs were not reliable. Her Majesty
trusted the Court ladies the most. I was never
more surprised in my hfe than when one of these
six eunuchs told me in the haU, for I had asked
what they were all doing there.

THE COURT LADIES

109

Later on one of the Court ladies said to me
that it was customary for them to take turns to
attend at Her Majesty's bedchamber in the
morning to wake her up, and that I should take
my turn the next morning and my sister the fol-
lowing morning. While saying this she smiled in
a most peculiar way. I did not understand at
the time, but found out later. I asked her what
I should do to wake Her Majesty, and she said:
"There is no particular way, you will have to
use your own judgment; but be careful not to
make her angry. It was my turn this morning.
I knew that she was verj' tired, having had a very
trying time the day before, so I had to make a
little more noise than usual when waking her.
She was very angry and scolded me dreadfully
when she arose, as it was rather late. This very
often happens when Her Majesty gets up late,
as she always says that we do not make enough
noise to wake her. However, I don't think she
will do this to you, just now, as you are new
here; but wait until you have been here a few
months." What this Court lady said to me wor-
ried me quite considerably ; but from what I had
seen of Her Majesty so far, I could not believe
that she would be angry with anyone who was
doing her duty properly.

CHAPTER NINE

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU

The next day I i

irlier than usual and

. arose t

dressed in a great hurry, as I feared I might be
late. When I got to Her Majesty's Palace
there were a few Court ladies there sitting on
the veranda. They smiled and asked me to sit
down with them as it was stiU too early, being
only five o'clock. I had been told to wake Her
Majesty at five thirty. The Young Empress
came up a few minutes later and we all courtesied
and wished her "good morning." After talking
with us a few minutes, she asked if Her Majesty
was awake and wliich one of us was on duty that
day. When I informed her that it was my turn,
she immediately ordered me to go to Her
Majesty's room at once. I went very quietly
and found some servant girls standing about and
one Court lady, who was sitting on the floor.
She had been on duty all night. When she saw
me she got up and whispered to me, that now that
I had come, she would go and change her clothes
and brush up a bit, and for me not to leave the
room until Her Majesty was awake. After this
110

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU 111

Court lady had gone, I went near to the bed and
said: "Lao Tsu Tsung, it is half-past five." She
was sleeping with her face toward the wall, and
without looking to see who had called her, she
said: "Go away and leave me alone. 1 did not
tell you to call me at half-past five. Call me at
six," and immediately went off to sleep again.
I waited until six and called her again. She woke
and said: "This is dreadful. What a nuisance
you are." After she had said this, she looked
around and saw me standing by the bed, "Oh!
it is you, is it ? WIio told you to come and wake
me?" I rephed: "One of the Court ladies told
me that it was my turn to be on duty in Lao Tsu
Tsung's bedchamber." "That is funny. How
dare they give orders without receiving instruc-
tions from me first? They know that this part
of their duty is not very pleasant and have put
it off on you because they know you are new
here." I made no reply to this. I got along as
best I could that day and found it no easy mat-
ter, as Her Majesty was very exacting in every-
thing. However, the next time I managed to
divert her attention to tilings new or interesting
in order to take her mind off of what she was
doing, and in this way had much less trouble
getting her out of bed.

My reader can't imagine how very glad we
were to get back to our rooms, and it was just

ng TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

10:30 P. M. I was very tired and sleepy, so I
undressed and went to bed at once. I think that
as soon as my head touched the pillow I was
asleep.

The following day there was the same thing,
the usual audience in the morning, of course busy
all the time, which went on for fifteen days
before I realized it. I began to take great inter-
est in the Court life, and liked it better every
day. Her Majesty was very sweet and kind to
us always, and took us to see the different places
in the Summer Palace. We went to see Her
Majesty's farm, situated on the west side of the
lake, and had to cross over a high bridge to get
there. This bridge is called Tu Tai Chiao
(Jade Girdle Bridge). Her Majesty often
took us under this bridge in a boat, or we walked
round on the border. She seemed very fond of
sitting on the top of this bridge on her stool and .
taking her tea, in fact this was one of her favor-
ite places. She used to go and see her farm once
every four or five days, and it always pleased
her if she could take some vegetables and rice or
corn from her own farm. She cooked these
things herself in one of the courtyards. I
thought that was good fun, and also turned up
my sleeves to help her cook. We brought fresh
eggs also from the farm and Her Majesty taught
us how to cook them with black tea leaves.

r Imperial Majesty, Tsze She-Duan Yo-Kong Yee-Joan Yu-
Ghwong Chung-Slio Goong-Chin Shen-TsungShe, Empress
Dowager of China, in her full yellow dragon robe
with sable hut

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU

lis

Her Majesty's cooking stoves were very pecu-
liar. They were made of brass, lined with
bricks. They could be moved anywhere, for
they had no chimneys. Her Majesty told me
to boil the eggs first until they were hard, and
to crack them but to keep the shells on, and add
half a cup of black tea, salt and spices. Her
Majesty said : "I hke the country hfe. It seems
more natural than the Court life. I am always
glad to see young people having fun, and not
such grand dames when we are by ourselves.
Although I am not young any more, I am still
very fond of play." Her Majesty would taste
first what we had been cooking, and would give
us all to taste. She asked: "Do you not think
this food has more flavor than that prepared by
the cooks?" We all said it was fine. So we
spent the long days at the Court having good
fun.

I saw Emperor Kwang Hsu every morning,
and whenever I had the time he would always
ask some words in English. I was surprised to
learn that he knew quite a bit of spelling, too. I
foimd him extremely interesting. He had very
expressive eyes. He was entirely a different
person when he was alone with us. He would
laugh and tease, but as soon as he was in the pres-
ence of Her Majesty he would look serious, and
as if he were worried to death. At times he

114 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

looked stupid. I was told by a great many peo-
ple who were presented to him at the different
audiences that he did not look intelligent, and
that he would never talk. I knew better, for
I used to see him every day. I was at the Court
long enough to study him, and found him to be
one of the most intelligent men in China. He
was a capital diplomat and had wonderful brains,
only he had no opportunities. Now a great
many people have asked me the same question,
if our Emperor Kwang Hsu had any courage
or brains. Of course outsiders have no idea how
strict the law is, and the way we have to respect
our parents. He was compelled to ^ve up a
great many things on account of the law. I have
had many long talks with him and found him a
wise man, with any amount of patience. His life
was not a happy one; ever since his childhood his
health was poor. He told me that he never bad
studied literature very much, but it came natural
to him. He was a bom musician and could play
any instnmient without studying. He loved the
piano, and was always after me to teach him.
There were several beautiful grand pianos at the
Audience Hall. He had very good taste for
foreign music, too. I taught him some easy
walties and be kept the time beautifully. I
found htm a good companion and a good friend,
and be confided in me and told me his troubles

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU

115

and sorrows. We talked a great deal about
western civilization, and I was surprised to learn
he was so well informed in everything. He used
to tell me, time after time, his ambitions for the
welfare of his country. He loved his people and
would have done anything to help them when-
ever there was famine or flood. I noticed that he
felt for them. I know that some eunuchs gave
false reports about his character, — that he was
cruel, etc. I had heard the same thing before I
went to the Palace. He was kind to the eunuchs,
but there was always that distinction between the
master and the servants. He would never allow
the eunuchs to speak to him unless they were
spoken to, and never listened to any kind of
gossip. I lived there long enough, and I know
just what kind of cruel people those eunuchs
were. They had no respect for their master.
They came from the lowest class of people from
the country, had no education, no morals, no feel-
ing for anything, not even between themselves.
The outside world has heard so many things
against His Majesty, the Emperor Kwang
Hsu's character, but I assure my readers that
these things were told by the eunuchs to their
families, and of course they always stretched it
out as far as possible in order to make the con-
versation interesting. The majority of the peo-
ple living in Peking get all kinds of information

116 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

through them. I have witnessed the same thing
many a time during my stay at the Palace.

One day during the time of Her Majesty's
afternoon rest we heard a dreadful noise. It
sounded just hke the firing off of fire-crackers.
Such a noise was quite unusual in the Palace for
such things are not allowed to be brought into
the Palace grounds. Of course Her Majesty
woke up. In a few seconds time everyone be-
came excited and were running to and fro as if
the building was on fire. Her Majesty was giv-
ing orders and telUng the eunuchs to be quiet,
but no one listened to her and kept yelling and
running around like crazy people, all talking at
the same time. Her Majesty was furious and
ordered us to bring the yellow bag to her. (I
must explain about this bag. It was made of
ordinary yellow cloth and contained bamboo
sticks of aU sorts and sizes and are made to beat
the eunuchs, servant girls and old women serv-
ants with.) This bag was carried everywhere
Her Majesty went, to be handy in case of emer-
gency. Everyone of us knew where this hag
was kept. We took all the sticks from the hag
and Her Majesty ordered us to go to the court-
yard and beat the eunuchs. It was such a fuimy
sight to see all the Court ladies and servant girls
each with a stick trying to separate the excited
crowd. On my part I thought I was having

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU

117

good fun so I laughed and found the rest were
laughing too. Her Slajesty was standing on the
veranda watching us but she was too far away
to see well and with all that noise, we knew she
could not hear us laughing. We tried our best
to separate the crowd, but were laughing so much
we did not have enough strength to hurt any of
them. All of a sudden all the eunuchs became
quiet and stopped talking, for one of them saw
the head eunuch, Li Lien Ying, followed by all
his attendants coming towards them. Everyone
of them became frightened and stood there like
statues. We stopped laughing, too, and turned
back each with a stick in our hand, walking to-
ward Her Majesty. Li Lien Ying was having
a nap, too, and had heard the noise and had come
to enquire what the trouble was and to report it
to Her Majesty. It seemed one of the young
eunuchs caught a crow. (The eunuchs hated
crows, as they are considered an unlucky bird.
The people in China called eunuchs crows be-
cause they were very disagreeable. That was the
reason why the eunuchs hated them so.) They
always set traps to catch them and then tied a
huge fii-e-cracker to their legs, set fire to the
cracker and then set the unfortunate birds free.
Xaturally the poor birds would be glad to fly
away and by the time the powder exploded
would be high up in the air and the poor bird

118 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

would be blown to pieces. It seemed this was
not the first time the eunuchs had played this
cruel trick. I was told it always delighted them
so much to see blood and torture. They always
invited others to drink some wine with them to
celebrate an occasion such as this. This cruel
deed was always done outside of the wall of the
Audience Hall but that day tlie crow flew to-
wards Her Majesty's own Palace while she was
sleeping and the powder exploded while the bird
was passing the courtyard. After the head
eunuch bad told Her Majesty what had hap-
pened, she was very angry and ordered that this
young eunuch be brought in and receive punish-
ment in her presence. I noticed one of the head
eunuch's attendants push the culprit out from
the crowd. The head eunuch immediately gave
orders to lay this man on the ground and two
eunuchs stood on each side of him and beat him
on his legs with two heavy bamboo sticks one at
a time. The victim never uttered a word while
this was going on. The head eunuch counted
until this man had received one hundred blows,
then he gave orders to stop. Then he knelt in
front of Her Majesty waiting for her orders and
at the same time kowtowed on the ground until
his head made a noise on the stone steps, asking
to be punished for his carelessness and neglect of
duty. Her Majesty said that it was not his

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU 119

fault and ordered him to take the offender away.
During all this time the offender was still on the
ground, and did not dare to move. Two eunuchs
each took hold of a foot and dragged him out of
the courtyard. We were all afraid even to
hreathe aloud for fear Her Majesty would say
that we were pretending to he frightened at wit-
nessing this punishment, at the same time when
it was over we would go and gossip ahout how
cruel she was. No one was surprised at what
had happened, as we were accustomed to seeing
it almost every day and were quite used to it,
I used to pity them, but I changed my mind very
soon after I had arrived.

Tlie first person I saw punished was a servant
girl, she had made a mistake ahout Her Maj-
esty's socks and had brought two which were not
mates. Her Majesty finding that out, ordered
another servant girl to slap her face ten times
on each cheek. This girl did not slap hard
enough, so Her Majesty said they were all good
friends and would not obey her orders, so she
told the one who had been slapped to slap the
other. I thought that was too funny for any-
thing and wanted to laugh the worst way, but of
course did not dare. That night I asked those
two girls how they felt slapping each other that
way. The reason why I asked them was be-
cause they were laughing and joking as usual

120 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY •

immediately they were out of Her Majesty's
bedchamber. They told me that was nothing;
that they were quite used to it and never bothered
themselves about such small things. I in turn
soon became used to it, and was as callous as they
were.

Now regarding the servant girls, they are a i
much better class of people than the eunuchs.
They are the daughters of Jlanchu soldiers, and
must stay ten years at the Palace to wait upon
Her Majesty, and then they are free to marry.
One got married after my first month at the
Court. Her Majesty gave her a small sum of
money, five hundred taels. This girl was so
attached to Her JIajesty that it was very hard
for her to leave the Court. She was an ex-
tremely clever girl. Her name was Chiu Yuen
(Autumn's Cloud). Her Majesty named her
that because she was so very delicate looking and
slight. I liked her very much during the short
time that we were together. She told me not to
listen to anyone's gossip at the Court, also that
Her Majesty had told her she was very fond
of me. On the twenty-second day of the third
moon she left the Palace, and we were all sorry
to lose her. Her Majesty did not realize how
much she missed her until after she had gone.
For a few days we had nothing but troubles. It
seemed as if ever^-thing went wrong. Her

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU 121

Majesty was not at all satisfied without Chiu
Yuen. The rest of the servant girls were scared,
and tried their best to please Her Majesty, but
they had not the ability, so we had to help and
do a part of their work so as not to make Her
Majesty nervous. Unfortunately, she stopped
us, and said: "You have enough to do of your
own work, and I do not want you to help the
servants. You don't please me a bit that way."
She could see that I was not accustomed to her
ways, for she had spoken severely, so she smiled
and said to me: "I know you are good to help
them so as not to make me angry, but these
servants are very cunning. It isn't that they
cannot do their work. They know very well
that I always select the clever ones to wait on
me in my bedroom and they don't like that, so
they pretend to be stupid and make me angry so
that I will send them to do the common work.
The eunuchs are worse. They are all afraid to
take Chiu Yuen's place. Now I have found
them out, and I will only keep the stupid ones
to wait on me from now." I almost laughed
when I noticed that they all looked serious for
a moment. I thought these people must be really
stupid, and not lazy, but I had deahngs with
them every day and found them out all right.
The eunuchs don't seem to have any brains at
all. They are such queer people and have no

1«2 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEX CITY I

feelings. They have the same mood all day
long — I should say they are in a cruel mood.
Whenever Her Majesty gave an order they
always said "Jer" (Yes) and as soon as they
got to our waitingroom they would say to each
other: "Wliat was the order? I have forgotten
all about it." Then they used to come to one of
us who had happened to be present when
the order was given: "Please tell us what the
order was. I did not listen while Her Majesty
was talking." We used to laugh and make fun
of them. We knew they were afraid to ask Her
Majesty, and of course we had to tell them.
One of the eunuch writers had to keep writing
down the orders that had been given during the
day, for Her Majesty wanted to keep records
of everything. There were twenty eunuchs who
were educated and they were excellent seliolars.
These had to answer any questions which Her
Majesty happened to ask them about Chinese
literature, while she had a good knowledge of
it herself. I noticed that it pleased her a great
deal if anyone could not answer a question, or
knew less than she did. She took delight in
laughing at them. Her ^Majesty was also very
fond of teasing. She knew that the Court ladies
did not know very much about literature, so she
used to try it on us. We had to say something
whether it was appropriate to her questions or

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU 1»S

not, and that would make her laugh. I was told
that Her Majesty did not like anyone to be too
clever, and yet she could not bear stupid people,
so I was rather nen'ous, and did not know how
to act for the first tliree weeks I was there, but
it did not take me very long to study her. She
certainly admired clever girls, but she did not
like those who would show their cleverness too
much. How I won her heart was this way.
Whenever I was with her I used to fix my whole
attention on her and watched her very closely
(not staring, for she hated that) and always car-
ried out her orders properly. I noticed another
thing, and that was that whenever she wanted
anything to be brought to her, such as ciga-
rettes, handkerchief, etc., she would only look at
the article and then look at anyone who hap-
pened to be there at the time, (There was al-
ways a table in the room, on which everything
she needed for the day was placed.) I got so
used to her habits that after a short time I knew
just what she wanted by looking at her eyes, and
I was very seldom mistaken. This pleased her
a great deal. She was strong-minded, and
would always act the way she thought was right,
and had perfect confidence in herself. At times
I have seen her looking very sad. She had
strong emotions, but her will was stronger. She
could control herself beautifully, and yet she liked

184 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY \

people to sympathize with her — only by actions,
not by words, for she did not like anyone to
know her thoughts. I am sm-e my readers will
think how hard it was to be the Court lady of
Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager of China,
but on the contrary I enjoyed myself very much,
as she was so interesting, and I found that she
was not at all difficult to please.

The first day of the fourth moon Her Majesty
was worried over the lack of rain. She prayed
every day after the audience for ten days, with-
out any result. Every one of us kept very quiet.
Her Majesty did not even give any orders that
day, and spoke to no one. I noticed that the
eunuchs were scared, so we went without our
luncheon. I worked so hard that morning, and
was so hungry — in fact aU the Court ladies were.
I felt sorry for Her Majesty. Finally she told
me I could go, as she wanted to rest a while, so
we came back to our own quarters. I questioned
our own eunuch Wang as to why Her Majesty
was worrj'ing about rain, for we were having
lovely weather then, day after day. He told me
that Lao Fo Yeh (Old Buddha) was worried
for the poor farmers, as all their crops were dead
without rain for so long. Wang also reminded
me that it had not rained once since I came to
live at the Palace. I did not realize that it was
so long as two months and seven days, and

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU 1«5

on the other hand it seemed to me longer than
that, for the life was very nice and pleasant, and
Her Majesty was very kind to me, as if she had
known me for years already. Her filajesty took
very little food at dinner that night. There was
not a sound anywiiere, and everyone kept quiet.
The Young Empress told us to eat as fast as
we could, which juizzled me. When we came
back to our waititigroom, the Young Empress
said to me that Her Slajesty was very much
worried for the poor farmers and that she would
pray for rain, and stop eating meat for two or
three days. That same night, before Her
Slajesty retired, she gave orders that no pigs were
to be slaughtered within the gates of Peking.
The reason of tliis was that by sacrificing our-
selves by not eating meat the Gods would have
pity on us and send rain. She also gave orders
that everyone should bathe the body and wash
out the mouth in order that we might be cleansed
from all impurities and be ready to fast and pray
to the Gods. Also that the Emperor should go
to the temple inside the Forbidden City, to per-
form a ceremony of sacrifice (called Chin Tan),
He was not to eat meat or hold converse with
anyone, and to pray to the Gods to be merciful
and send rain to the poor farmers. His Majesty,
the Emperor Kwang Hsu, wore a piece of jade
tablet about three inches square, engraved "Chai

186 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY|

Chieh" (the meaning being just like Chin Tan —
not to eat meat but to pray three times a day),
both in Manchu and Chinese, and all the eunuchs
who went with the Emperor wore the same kind
of tablets. The idea was that this jade tablet
was to remind one to be serious in performing
the ceremonies.

The next morning Her Majesty got up very-
early and ordered me not to bring any jewels
for her. She dressed herself in great haste. Her
breakfast was very simple that day, just milk and
steamed bread. Our own breakfast was cabbage
and rice cooked together, with a little salt. It
was tasteless. Her Majesty did not talk to us
at bU, except when giving orders, and so, of
course, we kept silent. Her Majesty wore a
pale gray gown, made very plain, with no cm-
broidery or trimmings of any kind. She wore
gray shoes to match, not to mention her gray
handkerchief. We followed her into the hall
where a eunuch knelt with a large branch of
willow tree. Her Jlajesty picked a little bunch
of leaves and stuck it on her head. The Young
Empress did the same, and told us to fol-
low her example. Emperor Kwang Hsu took
a branch and stuck it on his hat. After that
Her Blajesty ordered the eunuchs and the serv-
ant girls to do the same thing. It was a funny
sight, and everj-one did look queer with a

THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU 187

bunch of leaves on the head. The head eunuch
came and knelt in front of Her Majesty and
said that everj-thing was prepared for the
ceremony in the Uttle pavilion in front of her
own palace. She told us that she preferred to
walk, as she was going to pray. It took us only
a few minutes to cross the courtyard. When we
arrived at this pavilion I noticed a large square
table was placed in the center of the room. A
few large sheets of yellow paper and a jade
slab, containing some vermilion powder instead
of ink, with two httle brushes to write with. At
each side of the table stood a pair of large porce-
lain vases, with two large branches of willow.
Of course no one was allowed to speak, but I
was curious and wanted to find out why every-
one had to wear the willow leaves on the head.
Her Majesty's yeUow satin cushion was placed
in front of this table. She stood there and took
a piece of sandalwood and placed it in the incense
burner filled with live charcoal. The Young
Empress whispered to me to go over and help
Her Slajesty to burn them. I placed several
pieces in until she told me that was enough.
Then Her Majesty knelt on her cushion, the
Young Empress knelt behind her, and we all
knelt in a row behind the Young Empress,
and commenced to pray. The Young Empress
taught us that very morning how to say the

128 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYI

prayer: "We worship the Heavens, and beg
all the Buddhas to take pity on us and save the
poor farmers from starving. We are willing to
sacrifice for them. Pray Heaven send us rain." I
We repeated the same prayer tliree times, and ^
bowed three times — nine times in all. After that
Her Majesty went to her usual morning audi-
ence. It was much earlier than usual that morn-
ing for the Court was returning to the Forbidden
City at noon. His Majesty, the Emperor
Kwang Hsu, was to pray at the Forbidden City
and Her Majesty always wanted to accompany
him wherever he went. It was nine o'clock in
the morning when the audience was over. She
ordered me not to bring any jewels for her to
the Forbidden City this time, for she would not
need them at all. I went to the jewel-room and
locked everything up, and placed the keys in a
yellow envelope, sealed it, and placed the
envelope among the others, and gave them
to a eunuch who takes care of these things. We
packed all her favorite tilings. Her gowns
were the most important things to pack, she had
so many and it was impossible to take all. I
noticed that the Court lady who was looking after
her gowns was the busiest amongst us. She had
to select gowns enough to last four or five days.
She told me that she had selected about fifty dif-
ferent ones. I told her that Lao Tsu Tsung

THE EMPEROll KWANG HSU !«!)

might stay at the Forbidden City four or five
days, and that she would not need so many gowns.
She said it was safer to bring many, for one was
not sure what would be Her Slajesty's idea for
the day. Packing at the Court was very simple.
Eunuchs brought many yellow trays, which are
made of wood, painted yellow, about five feet by
four feet and one foot deep. We placed a large
yellow silk scarf in the tray, then the gowns,
and covered them with a thick yellow cloth. Ev-
erything was packed the same way. It took us
about two hours to pack fifty-six trays. These
things always started off first, carried by the
eunuchs. His Majesty, the Emperor Kwang
Hsu, the Young Empress and all the Court la-
dies, had to kneel on the ground for Her Maj-
esty's sedan chair to pass the Palace Gate, then
we went in search of our own chairs. The pro-
cession as usual was pretty, soldiers marching in
front of her chair, four young Princes riding on
horseback on each side of her, and from forty to
fifty eunuchs also on horseback behind her,
all dressed in their official robes. The Em-
peror's chair and the Young Empress' chair were
of the same color as Her Majesty's. The Sec-
ondarj' wife of the Emperor had a deep yellow
chair. The chairs of the Court ladies were red,
and were carried by four chair bearers, instead
of eight like their Majesties. Our own eunuchs

130 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

also rode on horseback, behind us. We rode a
long time, it seemed to me, before I noticed the
Emperor's chair begin to descend from the stone-
paved road, and we all followed him. I could
see that Her Majesty's chair was still going
straight on, and we took a nearer route to reach
Wan Shou Si (The long life temple), to await
Her Majesty's arrival. We alighted from our
chairs and started at once to prepare Her
Majesty's tea and her little dishes. I went to
help 'her to aliglit, and supported her right arm
to mount the steps. Her Majesty sat on Her
Tlirone, and we placed a table in front of her
and my sister brought her tea. (Tlie custom
was, that if she went anjTvhere, or during the
festivals, we must bring to her everything, instead
of the eunuchs.) We placed all the dainties in
front of her, and then we went to rest. Her
Majesty always stopped at this temple on the
way from the Summer Palace to the Forbidden

CHAPTER TEN

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

I THOUGHT of SO many things while I was rid-
ing in my chair. It was a glorious day. I felt
sorrj' for Her Majesty, for she was very quiet
that day. Generally she was happy, and made
everyone laugh with her. I thought about tlie
hranches of willow, too, but could not understand
the meaning. I came out of the hall while Her
Majestj' was dining with the Emperor, and found
the Young Empress sitting in a small room
on the left side of the courtyard, with several
Court ladies. When they saw me they made
signs for me to go there. I found them all drink-
ing tea, and the Yoimg Empress said to me,
"I am sure you must he tired and hungry. Come
and sit near me and have a cup of tea."
I thanked her and sat down beside her and we
talked of what we saw on the roads and how we
had enjoyed our long ride. She said; "We have
stiU an hour's ride before we reach the Forbid-
den City." She also talked about the ceremony
we had performed that morning and said that
we must all pray earnestly for rain. I could
131

l!i« TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY I

not wait any longer, so I asked her what those
branches of willow meant. She smiled and told
me that willow could bring water, as the Buddhist
religion believes, and that it was an old custom
of the Court wearing willow leaves, when pray-
ing for rain. She also told me that we must per-
form the same ceremony every morning mitil the
rain came.

We heard Her Majesty talking in the court-
yard, and knew that she had finished her
luncheon, so we went in with the Young Em-
press, and ate what was left, as usual. I found
the f<K)d very nice indeed, although it seemed
rather funny without having meat. We came
out into the courtyard and saw that Her Majesty
was walking up and down. She said to us:
"My legs are so stiff, riding in the chair. I must
walk a little before we leave here. Are you all
tired?" We told her that we were not tired, so
she ordered us to walk with her. It looked very
funny to see us walking round and round. Her
Majesty in front, and we following her. Her
Majesty turned and smiled at us, and said:
"We are just like horses taking their rounds at
a stable." It reminded me of a circus. Li Lien
Ying came and knelt down, and said that it
was time for Her Majest>' to depart, in order
to reach the Forbidden Citj' at the lucky hour
she had selected, so we left Wan Shou Su All

THE YOUNG EMPRESS 133

the chairs went very fast, and after an hour's ride
we came near the Palace Gate. We followed
the Emperor's chair, taking a shorter route, and
noticed the gate was wide open. His Majesty,
the Emperor, and the Young Empress' chairs
went in, but we had to alight and walk in.
There were small chairs waiting for us. (As I
explained before these little chairs were car-
ried by eunuchs, with a rope across their shoul-
ders.) We came to the courtyard of the
Audience Hall where the Emperor and the Em-
press were waiting for xis. As usual His
Majesty knelt in front. Behind him was the
Young Empress, and we knelt in a row behind
her, waiting to welcome Her Majesty to her
Palace. She went to her room where the eunuchs
had placed everything in order long before her
arrival. We held the ceremony tliat afternoon
and evening. After Her Majesty had retired
we came back to our rooms and found that every-
thing was in order, our eunuchs had made up our
beds already. It was very nice to have them, for
we could not do our own work at all. I was
so tired and my limbs were stiff. I immediately
went to sleep and did not realize how long I had
slept until I heard someone knocking at my win-
dow. I got up and pulled the blind away. I
noticed that the sky looked duU and thought it
was clouded. I felt happy, and thought it might

134 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT\

rain, and so relieve Her Majesty. I got dressed
in great haste, but much to my disappointment
I saw the sunshine on the opposite windows.

The Palace in the Forbidden City was so old,
and built in such a queer way. The courtyards
were small, and the verandas very broad. AH
the rooms were dark. No electric light. We
had to use candle light. One could not see the
sky except by going into the courtyard and look-
ing up. I found that I bad risen before the sun
was up, and I was not quite awake yet, and
thought the sky was clouded. I went to Her
Majesty's own Palace and found the Young Em-
press already there. Slie was always the first
and always looked so tidy I often wondered how
early she had to get up. She told me that I was
not late, althougli Her Majesty was awake but
not up yet. I went into her bedroom and made
my usual morning courtesy to her. The first
thing she asked me was about the weather. I
had to tell her the truth — that there was no sign
of rain. Her ^Majesty got up, dressed, and bad
her breakfast as usual, and told us tliere would
be no audience that morning. The Emperor
■went to the Temple, sacrificing, and tliere was
nothing important to attend to. We prayed for
three days in succession, but no rain came. I
found that Her Jlajesty was truly discouragetl,
and ordered each of us to pray twenty times a

THE YOUNG EMPRESS 135

day. We marked a spot with vermilion powder
and a little water on big yellow sheets of paper
each time we prayed.

On the sixth day of the fourth moon the sky
was clouded. I ran to Her Slajesty's bedroom
that morning to tell her the news, but found that
someone had told her ah-eady. She smiled, and
said to me: "You are not the first one to give me
the good news. I know ever)'one of you wanted
to be the first to tell me. 1 feel very tired to-
day, and wish to lie down a little longer. You
can go, and I will send for you when I am
ready to get up." When I went to search for
the Young Empress I found all the Court ladies
there also. They all asked me if I had noticed
the rain. We came out of the waitingroom and
found that the courtyard was wet, and after a
while it rained very fast. Her Slajesty got up,
and we prayed as usual. Fortunately the rain
did not stop, but came pouring down all that day.

Her Majesty played solitaire with the dom-
inoes, and I stood at the back of her chair watch-
ing her. I saw that the Young Empress and
all the girls were standing on the veranda. Her
Majesty saw them, too, and said to me: "Go
and tell them to wait in the waitingroom. Can't
they see that the veranda is wet?" I went to
them, but before I had the opportunity of telhng
them anything the Young Empress told me that

136 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

thei;

r had

2 waitingroom was wet, and that the water
gone in. As I said before, this building was
very old, and tliere were no drains at all. Her
Majesty's own Palace was high; it had twelve
steps, while our waitingroom, which was on the
left side of her Palace, was built right on the
ground, with no raised foundation at all. While
I was talking on the veranda just for a few min-
utes, I got quite wet. Her Majesty knocked at
her glass window and told us to go in. Now I
must explain that none of us, not even the Young
Empress could enter Her Majesty's Palace
without her orders except we had work to do
there, or were on duty. Her Majesty was very
happy that day. She laughed and said that we
looked as if we had just been pulled out of the
lake. The Young Empress had on a pale blue
gown, and the red tassel on her headdress was
dripping red water all over her gown. She
smiled and said to us: "Look at those girls; their
gowns are all spoiled." While we were talking.
Her Majesty gave us orders for us to change our
clothes.

After they had gone, I went back to Her
Majesty. She looked at me and said: "You are
wet also, only your clothes do not show." I had
on a cashmere dress which was made very plain.
She touched my arm and said: "How wet you
are. You had better change, and put

n a thick ^^H^

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

137

dress. I think foreign clothes must be very un-
comfortable; the waist is too small and it seems
to me out of proportion to the rest of the body.
I am sure that you will look much prettier in our
Manchu gown. I want you to change and put
your Parisian clothes away as souvenirs. I only
wanted to know how foreign ladies dressed and
now I have seen enough. The Dragon Boat
Festival will be here next month and I will make
some pretty gowns for you." I thanked her by
ko^vtowing to the ground and told her that I
would be only too pleased to change into Manchu
clothes, but having lived so many years abroad,
and having always worn foreign clothes, I had
not had any made. We were planning to
change into JManchu gowns before coming to
the Court, but we had received orders that Lao
Tsu Tsung wished to see us in foreign clothes.
I was very glad when I received that order as
there were several reasons why I wanted to wear
Manchu gowns. First, the Court ladies at the
beginning treated us as outsiders. Secondly, I
knew that Her Majesty did not hke them, and
besides, we were very uncomfortable living at
the Palace in Peking, and made up our minds
that we must wear Manchu clothes, which were
made for it. We had so much work to do, and
having to stand most of the time one absolutely
needed loose garments. Her Majesty ordered

138 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

one of the eunuchs to bring one of her dresses
me to try on, so I went back to my own room,
and took off my wet clothes and changed. I
tried on her gown, but it was too loose for me.
The length was quite all right and so were the
sleeves. Her Majesty told one of the eunuch
writers to write down my measurements in order
to have a gown made for me, and said she was
sure it would fit me. She did the same
thing for my mother and sister, and ordered our
gowns to be made at once. I knew she was
pleased, as she told me what color, would suit
me the best. She said that I should always
wear pink and pale blue, for they suited, and
were her favorite colors, too. She also talked
about our headdress, and ordered some made
the same as worn by the other Court ladies. She
said to me: "I know you can wear my shoes, for
I tried yours on the first day you came, don't you
remember? I must select a lucky day for you to
become a Manchu once more," she said this with a
smUe, "and no more foreign clothes after that,"
She took her special book for lucky days and
hours, and studied it a little while, then she said
the eighteenth of that month was the best. Li
Lien Ying, the head eunuch knew how to please
Her Majesty, and said he would give orders to
have everything ready for us at that time. Her
Majesty told us the way we must have our bail

4
n

4
4

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

139

dressed, and what kind of flowers we should wear,
in fact she was very happy arranging to make
us into Jlanchus. A short while after she dis-
missed us for the day. It rained for three days
without stopping. The last day the Emperor
came back, and all ceremonies ceased. Her
Majesty never liked to stay in the Forbidden
City, and I was not a bit surprised, as I hated
the place. We had to use candles to dress by,
in the morning, as the rooms were in absolute
darkness even in the middle of the afternoon.
It rained so much that finally Her ^Majesty said
she would return to the Sunmier Palace the next
day, whether it was raining or not, and we were
all very glad to go.

We returned to the Summer Palace on the
seventh. It was a dull day, but no rain. We
packed everything in just the same way we had
done when we came, and stopped at Wan Shou
Si and had our luncheon. That day we com-
menced to eat meat again. I noticed that Her
Majesty enjoyed her meal very much. She
asked me if I liked the food without meat, and I
told her that everything was nicely done and that
I enjoyed the food very much, although without
meat. She told me that she could not eat that
kind of food and enjoy it, and that if it were not
necessarj' to make sacrifice she would not have
abstained.

140 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

The first garden party of the year was given
by the Empress Dowager to the ladies of the
Diplomatic Corps, in the fourth moon. This
year Her Majesty desired to deviate a little from
previous custom, and issued orders that stalls
should be arranged in the garden, on a similar
principal to a bazaar, on which were to be dis-
played curios, embroidered work, flowers, etc.,
etc. These were to be given as presents to the
guests. The guests were: ]\Irs. Conger, wife
of the American IMinister, Mrs. Williams, wife
of Chinese Secretary of the American Legation,
Madame and Mademoiselle de Career, wife and
daughter of the Spanish Minister, Madame
Uchida, wife of the Japanese JMinister, and a few
ladies of the Japanese Legation, Sladame Almei-
da, wife of the Portuguese Charge d' Affaires,
Madame Cannes, wife of the Secretaiy of the
French Legation, the wives of several French
Officers, Lady Susan Townley, wife of the First
Secretary of the British Legation, two ladies
from the German Legation, wives of German Of-
ficers, and wives of a few Customs Ofiicials. On
tliis occasion Her Majesty selected a most beau-
tiful gown of peacock blue, embroidered all over
with phoenix. The embroidery was raised and
each phoenix had a string of pearls two inches
long sewed into its mouth. AATienever Her Maj
esty stirred, these strings of tiny pearls

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

141

forwards and backwards and it made a very
pretty effect. Of course, she wore her jade phoe-
nix on her hair as usual and shoes and handker-
ciiief embroidered with the same pattern. My
mother wore a lavender silk gown, trimmed with
silver braid, her hat was of the same shade with
plumes to match. My sister and myself wore
pale blue Chinese silk gowns with insertion and
medallions of Irish crochet and trimmed with
tiny velvet bands. We wore blue hats with large
pink roses. All the Court ladies dressed in their
most picturesque gowns and it was a very pretty
sight to see the procession walking to the Audi-
ence Hall.

Her Majesty was in her happiest mood that
morning and said to us : "I wonder how I would
look in foreign clothes; my waist is very small,
but wearing this kind of loose gown it would not
show. I don't think I would need to squeeze
myself so tight, either, but I don't think there
is anytliing in the world prettier than our Man-
chu gowns."

First the guests were received in audience by
Their Majesties. They were accompanied by
the Doyen, Baron Czikann, Minister for Aus-
tria, and an interpreter from each Legation. On
entering the Audience Hall all the guests stood
in line and the Doyen presented a short address
to Their Majesties. This was translated to

148 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Prince Clung, who, in turn, communicated it to
the Emperor. The Emperor made a suitable
reply in Chinese which was translated by the
Doyen's interpreter. Then the Doyen mounted
the steps of the dais and shook hands with Their
Majesties, the rest of the guests being presented
in turn. I was standing at the right hand of the
Empress Dowager and as each guest came for-
ward, called out their names, and the Legation
which tliey represented. Her Majesty had a few
words for everj'one, and when she saw a new
face she would ask how long they had been in
China; whether they liked it, etc., etc. All these
conversations I interpreted for Her Majesty.
As the guests finished paying their respects they
passed along and remained standing in the Hall
until everybody had been presented.

The interpreters, who did not take part in this
ceremony but had remained standing in the Hall
until it was over, were then conducted by Prince
Ching to another part of the Palace, where re-
freshments were provided for them. After they
had gone out Their Majesties descended from
the dais and mixed with the guests.

The formal ceremony now being concluded,
chairs were brought in and everybody made them-
selves comfortable. Tea was brought in by the
eunuchs and after a few minutes' conversation,
we all adjourned to the refreslmient room, with

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

1+3

the exception of the Empress Dowager, the Em-
peror, the Young Empress and the Secondary
wife. In the absence of Her Majesty, the Im-
perial Princess {The Empress Dowager's
adopted daughter) oflRciated as hostess, Mrs.
Conger sitting at her right and Madame de Car-
eer, wife of the Spanish Minister, on her left.
The food was all Chinese, but knives and forks
were provided for the use of the guests. During
the luncheon the Imperial Princess stood up and
spoke a few words of welcome, which I translated
into English and French. After the luncheon
was over we adjourned to the garden where
Their Majesties were awaiting us. A brass
band was playing European airs.

Her Majesty led the way around the gardens,
passing the various stalls on tlie way, where the
ladies would stop and admire the different arti-
cles, which were later presented to them as souve-
nirs of the occasion. On arriving at a teahouse
which had been erected in the gardens, everybody
rested and partook of tea. Their Majesties then
wished everybody good-bye and the guests were
then conducted to their chairs and took their de-
parture.

As usual, we reported to Her Majesty every-
thing that had taken place and how the guests
had enjoyed themselves. She said: "How is it
that these foreign ladies have such large feet?

144 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

Their shoes are like boats and the funny way t
walk I cannot say I admire. I haven't yet s
one foreigner with pretty hands. Although t
have white skins, their faces are covered with
white hair. Do you think they are beautiful?" I
replied that I had seen some American beauties
when I was abroad. Her Majesty said: "No
matter how beautiful they are they have ugly
eyes. I can't bear that blue color, they remind
me of a cat." After a few more remarks, she
ordered us to retire, saying that we must be
tired. We were rather used up and glad of an
opportunity to rest, so made our courtesies and
retired.

We had been at the Palace more than two
months, and I had had no opportunity to see my ;
father at all, who was quite ill at that time. We '
did not know whether we could ask leave of ab-
sence from the Court. I received letters from my
father every day, telling me to have courage, and
to do my duty. My mother asked tlie Young
Empress if it would be correct to ask Her Maj-
esty for permission to go home for a day or two.
The Young Empress told us that it would be
quite all right to do that, but she tliought it would
be better if we could wait untd after the eighth,
for there would be a feast on that day. The
eighth day of the fourth moon every year is the
ceremony of eating green peas. According to

THE YOUNG EMPRESS U5

the Buddhist religion there is a hereafter which
divides or grades, according to the life that is
lived on earth, that is to say, those who live good
hves go to Heaven when they die and those who
are bad go to a had place to suffer. On tliis
occasion Her Slajesty sent to the people she
liked, each a plate containing eight peas, and we
had to eat them. The Young Empress told me
that if I presented a plate of peas to Her Maj-
esty it would please her, which I did. This
meant: "Slay we meet in tlie hereafter" (Chi
Yuen Dou) . Her Majesty was verj' happy that
day. AVe went to the west side of the lake and
had our luncheon there. Her Majesty talked to
us about the first day we came to the Court, and
then said to mother: "I wonder if Yii Keng is
any better. When will he he able to come to
the Court? I haven't seen him since he returned
from France." (Sly father had asked three
months leave of absence from the Court on ac-
count of his poor health.) My mother answered
and said that he was feeling better, but that his
legs were still very weak, and he could not walk
much. Her Slajesty then said to us: "Oh, I
have forgotten to tell you that if you wish to go
home, you can ask permission. I have been so
busy lately, and forgot to remind you," We
thanked her and told her that we would like to go
home and see how my father was, so she gave

146 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY ]

orders that we should leave the Court the next
day. Then she asked me how long I would like
to stay at home, and of course I knew the cus-
tom, and told her that I was waiting for her
orders: "Would two or three days he enough?"
We told her that it suited us beautifully. I
was so surprised when she mentioned it to us,
and wondered if anyone had told her of our
intentions, or if Her Majesty was a mind
reader.

When she retired that afternoon I went to
see the Young Empress, who was always very
nice and kind, and asked me to sit near her.
Her eunuch brought me a cup of tea. Her
rooms were furnished exactly the same as Her
Majesty's, but everything looked extremely
dainty, and showed very good taste. We
talked about the life at the Palace for a long
time, and she told me that she was very fond of
us, and so was Her Majesty. I told her that
Her Majesty had mentioned to us about going
home for two or three days and that I was sur-
prised to see how thoughtful she was. She said
that someone had reminded Her Majesty to let
us go home, for we had been at the Court for
more than two months. I found out afterwards
that it was the head euimch Li who had heard
that we were anxious to go. The Young Em-
press said to me: "I want to teach you to be

THE YOUNG EMPRESS 147

wise, that is, you are ordered to leave the Court
to-morrow, but Her Majesty did not mention
any particular hour. You must not talk about
it to anyone, and don't show that you are ex-
cited to go home. Don't dress as if you are
going out to-morrow, but be natural and do
your work as if you don't care about going at
alL Don't you remind her, in case she forgets
to tell you to go, and come back on the sec-
ond day, wliich is the custom. It will show that
you are anxious to see Her Majesty, so you
come back one day earher than the appointed
time." I was so happy to get this information
and asked her if it would be all right to bring
Her Slajesty some presents when we returned
to the Court. She said that was just the proper
thing to do. The next day we did the same
work, and went to the Audience Hall with Her
Majesty, as usual. After the audience was
over Her Majesty ordered lier luncheon to be
served at the country teahouse. This teahouse
was built in country style, and right on top of
her peony mountain, with bamboo and straw,
and all the furniture was made of bamboo also.
They were beautifully made, and the frames of
the windows were carved into a line of characters
— Shou (long life), and butterflies, with pink
silk curtain hangings. At the rear of this ex-
quisite bttle building was a bamboo shade, with

148 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY J

railings all around, hung with red silk lanterns.
The seats were huilt against the railings, so that
one could sit on tlieni comfortably. This was
supposed to be used hy tlie Court ladies- as their
waitingroom. We played dice with Her Maj-
esty when luncheon was over. We played a
very long time, and I won tlie ganie that day, j
Her Majesty laughed and said to me: "You have I
luck to-day. I think you are so happy to go J
home that your fairies have helped you to win the j
game." As I mentioned before, this game waa |
called "Eight Fairies Gkiing across the Sea." "I |
think it is time for you to go now." While say-
ing this she turned and asked one of the eunucha I
what the time was, and he answered that it was I
half-past two. We kowtowed to Her Majesty,
and stood waiting for more orders. Then she
said: "I am sorry to see you go although I know
you are coming back within two or tliree days.
I know I shall miss you." To my mother she |
said: "Tell Yii Keng to take care of his health j
and get well soon. I have ordered four eunuchs ]
to accompany you, and am sending some of my
own rice for him." We had to kowtow again in
thanking Her Slajesty for her kindness and
finaUy she said: "Nemen tzowba" (you can go :
now).

We withdrew, and found the Young Empress
on the veranda. We courtesied to her, and said

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

149

good-bye to the Court ladies and came to our
rooms to get ready to start. Our eunuchs were
very good, and had everything packed up ready
for us. We gave ten taels to each of our eu-
nuchs, for that was the custom, and gave four
taels to each chair bearer of the Palace. When
we arrived at the Palace Gate our own chairs
were waiting for us. We said good-bye to our
eunuchs. Strange to say they seemed attached
to us and told us to come back soon. The four
eunuchs ordered by Her JIajesty to see us home
were there, and as soon as we got into our chairs
I saw them riding on horseback beside us. It
seemed to me just like a dream the two months
I had spent at the Court, and I must say I felt
very sorry to leave Her Majesty, but at the same
time I wanted very much to see my father. We
got home after a two hours' ride, and found him
looking much better, and one can imagine how
happy he was to see us. The four eunuchs came
into our parlor, and placed the yellow bag of
rice on the table. My father thanked Her Maj-
esty by kowtowing to the ground. We gave
these eunuchs each a little present, and they de-
parted.

I told my father about my hfe at the Palace,
and how very kind Her Majesty was to me. He
asked me if I could influence Her Majesty to
reform some day, and hoped he would live to sec

150 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY I

it.

Somehow or other I had tlie idea that I could |
promised hin

t I would try my best.
Her Majesty sent two eunuchs to see us the
next morning, and also sent us food and fruits.
They told us that Her Majesty missed us, and
had told tliem to ask if we missed her. We told
these eunuchs that we were returning to the Court
the next day. We stayed at home only two days
and a great many people came to see us, and
kept us busy all the time. My father suggested
that we should start from the house at about
8:00 A, M., so as to get to the Summer Palace
before Her JIajesty was up. We left our house
at 3:00 a. m. in total darkness, just like we had
two months before. What a change. I thought
I was the happiest girl in the world. I was told
by many peojile, especially by the Young Em-
press, that Her Majesty was extremely fond of
me. I had also heard that she did not care for
young people at all. Although I was happy, I
noticed that some of the Court ladies did not
like me, and they made me uncomfortable on
many occasions by not telling me just the way
Her Ma j esty wanted the work to be done. They
smiled to each other whenever Her Majesty was
saying to my mother that she liked me, and that
I was always careful in doing anytliing that
pleased her. I knew I was going to see those
people again. However, I made up my mind

THE YOUNG EMPRESS 151

to fight my battles alone. I only wished to be
useful to Her Majesty, and would not take any
notice of them.

It was a httle after five o'clock when we
reached the Summer Palace. Our own eunuchs
were very happy to see us again and told us that
Her Majesty was not up yet and that we had
time to go to our rooms, where they had some
breakfast prepared for us. We went to see the
Young Empress first, and found she was ready
to go to Her Majesty's Palace. She was also
very glad to see us, and told us that our Manchu
costumes were all ready, and that she had seen
them and they were perfectly lovely. We were
very hungry, and enjoyed our breakfast im-
mensely. After that we went to see Her Maj-
esty. She was awake, so we went into her bed-
room. We greeted her the same way that we did
every morning, and kowtowed to her and thanked
her for all the things she had sent us while we
were at home. She sat up on the bed, smiled,
and said: "Are you glad to come back? I know
everyone who comes to me and stays for a while
does not like to go away from here any more. I
am glad to see you (to my mother) . How is Yii
Keng?" My mother told her that my father
was much better. She asked us what we did for
those two days, staying at home. She also
wanted to know whether we still remembered

152 TWO YEARS IX THE FORBIDDEN CITY

which day she had chosen for us to change into
our Jlanchu costume. We told her we knew the
date, and were looking forward to it. The
eunuchs brought in three large yellow trays, full
of beautiful gowns, shoes, wliite silk socks, hand-
kerchiefs, bags for nuts, in fact the whole set,
including the gu'un dzan (Manchu headdress).
We kotvtowed to her, and told her we were very
much pleased with everything she had given
us. Her Majesty told the eunuchs to bring
everything out for us to see. She said to us:
"You see I give you one full official dress, one set
of Chao Chu (amber heads), two embroidered
gowns, four ordinary gowns for everyday wear,
and two gowns for Chi Chen wear (the anniver-
sary of the death of an Emperor or Empress),
one sky blue, the other mauve, with very little
trimming. I also have a lot of underwear for
you." I was excited and told Her Majesty that
I would like to commence to dress up at once.
She smiled, and said: "You must wait until the
day comes, the lucky day I have selected for you.
You must try to fix your hair first, which is the
most difficult thing to do. Ask the Yoxmg
Empress to teach you." Although she told me
to wait, I knew she was pleased to see that I
showed so much enthusiasm. She asked me the
first day when we came to the Court why my
hair was so curly. I showed her that I curled

THE YOUNG EMPRESS

158

it with paper, and she teased me ever afterwards.
She also said that I could not pull my hair
straight in time to wear !Manchu clothes, that
everyone would laugh at me, and how ugly I
would look. That night one Court lady came
over to me while I was sitting on the veranda
and said: "I wonder if you will look nice in
Manchu dress?" I told her I only wanted to
look natural. "You have lived so many years
abroad we consider you are a foreigner to us."
I told her that as long as Her Majesty consid-
ered I was one of her own, I would be satisfied
and that she need not worry herself about me. I
knew they were jealous of us, so I went in search
of the Young Empress and left this girl alone.
We were talking with the Young Empress in the
waitingroom, and this girl came in and sat near
me, smiling to herself most of the time. One of
the servant girls was fixing some fresh flowers
for Her Majesty. She looked at her and asked
her why she was smiling. The Young Empress
saw, and asked her the same question. She
would not answer, but kept on smiling all the
time. At this moment a eunuch came and said
that Her Majesty wanted me. I afterwards
tried to find out what she had told the Young
Empress but could not. Several days passed
very quietly. Her Majesty was happy, and so
was I. One day the Young Empress reminded

154 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

us that we should make all preparatiMis in or-
der to be able to dress ourselves properly on the I
eighteenth, as the time was getting short — only
two days left. Tliat night, after Her Majesty
had retired, I went to my own room and fixed
my headdress on and went to see the Young i
Empress. She said that I looked very nice, and
that she was sure Her Majesty would like me
better in Manchu costume. I told her that I
used to wear Manchu dress when I was a Uttle
girl, before we went to Europe, and of course I
knew how to put it on. I also told her that I
could not understand why these girls looked
upon me as a foreigner. She said that they only
showed their ignorance, and that they were
jealous of me and I should not pay any attention
to them at alL

CHAPTER ELEVEN

OUR COSTUMES

The next day we got up earlier than usual and
dressed ourselves in our new gowns. I could not
believe my own eyes, and asked several times
whether that was myself or not. I found that
I looked all right, although I hadn't been wear-
ing this sort of costume for so long. They
seemed to think that we would look awkward.
Our own eunuchs were delighted to see us dressed
that way. The Young Kmpress came in while
passing our rooms on her way to the Empress
Dowager's Palace, and waited for us to go with
her. When we arrived at the waitingroom a lot
of people came in and looked at us, and talked
so much about us, that it made me feci rather
shy. Everyone told us that we looked much bet-
ter that way than in foreign clothes, except the
Emperor Kwang Hsu. He said to me: "I
think your Parisian gowns are far prettier than
this." I smiled and said nothing. He shook
his head at me, and went into Her ^Majesty's
bedroom. Li Lien Ying came and saw us, and
was very much excited and told me to go and
155

156 TWO YEARS IX THE FORBIDDEN CITY

see Her Majesty at once. I told him that
everyone was looking at us, as if we were curios.
He said: "You don't know how nice you
look now, and I wish that you would not wear
foreign clothes at all." Her Majesty laughed
so loud when she saw us that it made me uncom-
fortable, for I was afraid we looked unnatural
to her. She said: "I cannot believe you are the
same girls. Just look at yourselves in this look-
ing-glass." She pointed to a large mirror in her
room. "See how you have changed. I feel that
you belong to me now. I must have some more
gowns made for you." Then Li Lien Ying said
that the twenty-fourth would be the first day of
the Summer. On that day everyone would be-
gin to wear jade hairpins instead of gold, and we
had none. Her Majesty said to Li: "I am very
glad you told me that. I must give them each a
jade hairpin after having asked them to change
into Manchu dress." Li went away and came
back with a box of hairpins of pure green
jade. Her Majesty took a beautiful one and
handed it to my mother and told her that that
pin had been worn by three Empresses. She
took two very nice ones, and gave one to me and
one to my sister. She told us that these two
were a pair, and that the other Empress Dow-
ager (the East Empress Dowager) used to wear
one, and that the other was worn by herself when

OUR COSTUMES 157

she was young. I felt ashamed that Her
Majesty had given us so many presents and 1
had done nothing for her in any way. How-
ever, we thanked lier most sincerely, and showed
our api)reciation. She said: "I look upon you
as ray own people, and the gowns I have made
for you are the very best, I have also decided to
let you wear the full Court dress, tlie same as one
of the Princesses. You are my Court lady, so
you are equally ranked here." Li stood there
behind her and made a sign to us to kowtow to
her. I cannot remember how many times I kow-
towed that day. The headdress ivas very lieavy,
and I was not quite used to it; I was afraid it
might fall off. Her Majesty also said that she
would make our rank known to the Court on her
seventieth birthday. I will explain this. On
everj'- decade from the time of her birth Her
Majesty used to give special favors to anyone
she liked, or to anyone who had done something
for her, and had been useful to her. She could
promote anyone at any time, but on these occa-
sions it was something special. The Young
Empress congratulated us, and said that Her
Majesty was looking for a young Prince to
marry me. She was also very fond of teasing.
I wrote to my father about all the favors that
had been given to me. He wrote me he hoped
that I deserved them all, and that I must do all

158 TWO YEAKS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

I could to be useful and loyal to Her Slajesty
as long as she lived.

I was very happy. Life was perfectly lovely
at the Palace. Her Majesty was always nice
and kind. I noticed the difference in the way
she had treated us since (as she said) we had
become Slanchus once more. One day Her
Majesty asked me while we were sailing on the
lake in the moonlight, if I wanted to go to Europe
any more. It was a sujierb night, and several
boats were sailing behind us. In one boat sev-
eral eunuchs were playing a kind of sweet music
on the flute and an instrument very much like
the mandolin, called Yeuh Chin (small harp,
like the shape of the moon), with Her Majesty
singing very softly to herself. I told her I was
satisfied to be with her, and did not wish to go
anywhere at all. She said that I must learn to
sing poetry and that she would teach me every
day. I told her that my father had made me
study all kinds of poetry and I had composed
some myself. She looked surprised and said:
"Why didn't you tell me that before? I love
poems. You must read to me sometimes. I
have many books here containing poems of differ-
ent dynasties." I told her that my knowledge
of Chinese Uterature was very limited, and I
dared not let her see how httle I knew. I had
only studied eight years. Her Majesty told

OUR COSTUMES

1S9

me that the Young Empress and herself were
the only ones who were familiar with Chinese Ut-
erature at the Court. She told me that she
tried to teach the Court ladies to read and write
some time ago, but having found them so lazy
she gave them up. My father told me to be very
careful not to show them what I could do until
I was asked, so I kept it to myself. After they
found this out, some of the Court ladies were
very disagreeable to me, and this went on day
after day.

Except for this unpleasantness the fourth
moon passed very agreeably. The first day of
the fifth moon was a busy day for us all, as from
the first to the fifth of the fifth moon was the
festival of five poisonous insects, which I will
explain later — also called the Dragon Boat Fes-
tival. AU the Viceroys, Governors and high
officials, besides the Imperial Family, Court
ladies and eunuchs, all oflfer Her Majesty beau-
tiful presents. I never saw such a lot of things
as came into the Palace during this festival.
Each person who sent in presents must accom-
pany them with a sheet of yellow paper, and at
the right lower corner the sender's name must be
written and also the word Kuai Jin, meaning to
present their gifts kneeling, also to write what
the presents were. The eimuchs took big yel-
low trays to bring them in. During these five

160 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYf

days everyone was busy, especially the eunuchs.
I could not count just how many people sent
presents to Her Majesty. The presents were of
every kind, such as things for the household ; silks
and jewelry of all kinds and description. A
large part of tlie presents were foreign goods
of the ordinary kind. I also saw lovely carved
thrones and emhroideries. Her Majesty ordered
them to be put away, and the foreign things to
be kept in her Palace, for those were new to her.
The third day of the fifth moon was tlie day
for just the people of the Palace to make pres-
ents. It was a most beautiful sight to see. We
were busy all night making preparations, and
had to go and help the Young Empress. The
next morning we placed our presents in the big
courtyard in these big yellow trays. The
Young Empress had her trays in the first row.
The presents from the Young Empress to the
Empress Dowager were made by her own hands.
There were ten pairs of shoes, silk embroid-
ered handkerchiefs, little bags for betel nuta,
and bags for tobacco, all exquisitely done. The
Secondary wife of the Emperor Kwang Hsu
presented about the same to Her Majesty. The
Court ladies' presents were all different, as we
could ask permission to go out shopping before
the Feast. We could not go out together, for
one or two of us must be there at all times, and

I
I

OUR COSTUMES 161

it was very exciting to tell each other what
we had bought. We ourselves did not ask per-
mission to go out of the Palace, for we had
our presents ready long before. Everyone
seemed to be talking about presents, whether
Her Majesty would like them or not. My
mother, my sister and myself had written to
Paris to get some lovely French brocades, one
set of furniture, French Empire style. We had
learned Her Majesty's taste already during our
short stay there, so including those presents we
also gave her fans, perfumes, soaps and some
other French novelties. Her JIajesty always
looked over ev-erj'thing, and noticed some of the
presents were of very poor quahty, and wanted
to know the sender's name. The eunuchs and
servant girls also made her good and useful pres-
ents. Her Slajesty would select the articles she
liked the best, and order the rest to be put
away, and she might never see them again. I
must say that Her Majesty liked and admired
some foreign things very much, she especially
loved the French fancy brocades, for she was
making new gowns almost every day. She was
also pleased with soaps and powder that would
beautify the skin. She always thanked us in a
very nice way and said how very thoughtful we
were in selecting beautiful articles for her. Her
Majesty would also say something nice to the

16« TWO YEARS I\ THE FORBIDDEN CITY

eunuchs and girls, and that made everyone fed |
pleased.

The fourth day of the fifth moon was the day
that Her Majesty gave presents to us all, the
different Princes, high officials, servant girls and
eunuchs. Her memory was something extraor-
dinary, for she could remember every one of the
presents that had been given to her the day
before, and the names of the givers also. That
was a busy day for us. Her Majesty gave
people presents according to the way they gave
her. We had yellow sheets of paper and wrote
out the names of those to whom she wished
to ^ve. That day Her 3Iajesty was very angry
with one of the wives of a certain Prince because
her presents were the poorest. Her Majesty
told me to keep that tray in her room and said
she would go over them and see what they were.
I knew she was not pleased, for she had a
telltale face. She told us to measure the silks
and ribbons in that tray, and leave it in the hall.
The ribbons were all of different lengths, all too
short to trim a gown, and the dress materials
were not of good quality. Her Majesty said
to me: "Now you look for yourself. Are these
good presents? I know very well all these
things were given to them by other people and
they of course would select the best for them-
selves, and give me what was left. They know

I
I

OUR COSTUMES Kif)

they are obliged to send me something. I
am surprised to see how careless they are.
Prohably they thought as I receive so many
presents I would not notice. They are mis-
taken, for I notice the poorest the first, in fact
I can remember everything. I can see those who
gave me things in order to please me, and those
who gave because they were obliged to. I will
return them the same way." She gave the
Court ladies each a beautiful embroidered gown
and a few hundred taels, the same to the Young
Empress and the Secondary wife. The pres-
ents which she gave us were a little different,
consisting of two embroidered gowns, several
simple ones, jackets and sleeveless jackets, shoes,
and flowers for the Manchu headdress. She
said that we had not so many gowns, and instead
of giving us the money, slie had things made for
us. Besides that, she gave me a pair of very
pretty earrings, but none to my sister, for she
noticed that I had a pair of ordinary gold ear-
rings, while my sister had a pair set with pearls
and jade. Her Slajesty said to my mother:
"Yii Tai Tai. I can see you love one daughter
better than the other. Roonling has such pretty
earrings and poor Derling has none." Before
my mother could answer her she had turned to
me while I was standing at the back of her chair:
"I will have a nice pair made for you. You are

161 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

mine now." My motlier told her that I did not
like to wear heavy earrings. Her Slajesty
laughed and said: "Never mind, she is mine now,
and I will give her everything she needs. You
have nothing to do with her." The earrings she
gave me were very Jieavj'. Her Majesty said
that if 1 would wear them every day I would get
used to them, and so it proved that after some
time I thouglit nothing of it.

Now ahout tliis Feast. It is also called the
Dragon Boat Feast. The fifth of the fifth
moon at noon was the most poisonous hour for
the poisonous insects, and reptiles such as frogs,
lizards, snakes, hide themselves in the mud, for
that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical
men seareh for them at that hour and place them
in jars, and when they are dried, sometime use
them as medicine. Her Majesty told me this,
so that day I went all over everywhere and dug
into the ground, but found nothing. The usual
custom was that at noon Her Majesty took a
small cup filled with spirits of wine, and added
a kind of yellow powder (something like sul-
phur). She took a small brush and dipped it
into the cup and made a few spots of this yel-
low paint under our nostrils and ears. This
was to prevent any insects from crawling on us
during the coming simmier. The reason why
it was also called the Dragon Boat Festival was

OUR COSTUMES

165

because at tlie time of the Chou Dynasty the
country was divided into several parts. Kach
place had a ruler. The Emperor Chou had a
Prime Minister named Chi Yuan, who advised
him to make alliance with the other six coun-
tries, but the Emperor refused, and Chi Yuan
thought that the country would be taken by oth-
ers in the near future. He could not influence
the Emperor, so he made up his mind to conunit
suicide and jumped into the river, taking a
large piece of stone with him. Tliis happened
on the fifth day of the fifth moon, so the year
afterwards, the Emperor got into a Dragon boat
to worsliip liis soul, and throw rice cakes, called
Tzu Tsi, into the river. On that day the people
have celebrated this feast ever since. At the
Palace the theatre played first this history, which
was very interesting, and also played the insects
tryuig to hide themselves before the most poison-
ous hour arrived. On that day we all wore tiger
shoes, the front part of which was made of a
tiger's head, with little tigers made of yellow silk
to wear on the headdress. These tigers were
only for the children to wear, and signified that
they would be as strong as a tiger, but Her
Majesty wanted us to wear them also. The
wives of the Manchu officials came to the Court,
and when they saw us they laughed at us. We
told them it was by Her Majesty's orders.

166 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

A register recording the birthdays of all the
Court ladies was kept by the head eunuch, and
a few days before my own birthday came around,
the tenth day of the fifth moon, he infonned me
that the custom of the Court was to make a pres-
ent to Her Majesty and said that the present
should take the form of fruit, cakes, etc., so I or-
dered eight boxes of different kinds. r

Early in the morning I put on full Court dress,
and made myself look as nice as possible and
went to wish Her Majesty good morning.
When she had finished dressing, the eunuchs
brought in the presents and, kneeling, I pre-
sented them to Her Majesty, bowing to the
ground nine times. She thanked me and wished
me a happy birthday. She then made me a pres-
ent of a pair of sandalwood bracelets, beautifully
carved, also a few rolls of brocade silk. She
also informed me that she had ordered some
macaroni in honor of my birthday. This maca-
roni is called (Chang Shou Me'en) long life
macaroni. This was the custom. I again bowed
and thanked her for her kindness and thought-
fulness. After bowing to the Young Empress
and receiving in return two pairs of shoes and
several embroidered neckties, I returned to my
room, where I foimd presents from all the Court
ladies.

Altogether I had a very happy birthday.

OUR COSTUMES

167

I can never forget the fifteenth day of the
fifth moon as long as I hve, for that was a bad
day for everyone. As usual we went to Her
Majesty's bedroom quite early that morning.
She could not get up and complained that her
back ached so much. We rubbed her back, in
turns, and fuially slie got up, though a little late.
She was not satisfied. The Kmperor came in and
knelt down to wish her good morning, but she
scarcely took any notice of him. I noticed that
when the Emperor saw that Her Majesty was
not well, he said very little to her. The eunuch
who dressed her hair every morning was ill, and
had ordered another one to help her. Her
Majesty told us to watch him very closely to see
that he did not pull her hair off. She could not
bear to see even one or two hairs fall out. This
eunuch was not used to trickery, for instance,
in case the hair was falling off, he could not hide
it like the other one did. This poor man did not
know what to do with any that came out. He
was frightened, and Her Majesty, seeing him
through the mirror, asked him whether he had
pidled her hair out. He said that he had. This
made her furious, and she told him to replace it.
I almost laughed, but the eunuch was very much
frightened and started to crj'. Her Majesty or-
dered him to leave the room, and said she would
punish him later. We helped her to fix up her

168 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

hair. I must say it was not an easy job, for
she had very long hair and it was difficult to
comb.

She went to the morning audience, as usual,
and after that she told the head eunuch what had
happened. This Li was indeed a bad and cruel
man, and said; "AVliy not beat him to death?"
Immediately she ordered Li to take this man to
liis own quarters to receive punishment. Then
Her Jlajesty said the food was bad, and or-
dered the cooks to be punished also. They
told me that whenever Her Majesty was angry
everything went wrong, so I was not surprised
that so many things happened that day. Her
Majesty said that we all looked too vain with
our hair too low down at the back of the head.
(This IManchu headdress is placed right in the
center of one's head and the back part is called
the swallow's tail, and must reach the bottom
part of one's collar.) We had our hair done up
the same way every day, and she had previously
never said a word about it. She looked at us,
and said : "Now I am going to the audience, and
don't need you all here. Go back to your rooms
and fix your hair all over again. If I ever see
you all like that again I am going to cut your
hair oflF." I was never more surprised in my life
when I heard her speak so sharply to us. I
don't know whether I was spoken to or not, but

OUR COSTUMES 169

I thought it well to be wise, and I answered I
would. We were all ready to go and Her Maj-
esty stood there watching us. When we were
about five or six feet away we heard her scolding
Chun Shou (the girl who was neither a Court
lady nor a servant). Her Majesty said she was
pretending she was all right, and Her Majesty
ordered her to go also. When we were walking
towards our own place, some of them laughed at
Chun Shou, which made her angry. When Her
Majesty was angry with anyone, she would say
that we were all doing something on purpose to
make her angry. I must say that everyone of
us was scared, and wondered who would have
dared to do that. On the contrary, we tried our
best to please her in every vray.

But that day she was furious all day and I
tried to stay away from her. I noticed some of
the eunuchs went to her to ask questions con-
cerning important matters, but she would not
look at them, but kept on reading her book. To
tell the truth, I felt miserable that day. At the
beginning I thought all the eunuchs were faith-
ful servants, but seeing them every day, I got
to know them. It did not do them any harm to
be punished once in a while.

The Young Empress told me to go in and
wait on Her Majesty as usual. She said that
probably if I would suggest playing dice with

170 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

her, slie might forget her troubles. At first I
did not want to go, for I was afraid that she
might say sonietliing to me, but seeing that the
poor Young Empress spoke to me so nicely, I
told her I would try. Wlien I entered Her
Majesty's sitting room I found her reading a,
book. She looked at me and said: "Come over
here, I would hke to tell you something. You
know these people at the Palace are no good and
I don't like them at all. I don't want them to
poison your ears by telling you how wicked I
am. Don't talk to them. You must not fix
your hair too low down at the back of your head.
I was not angry with you this morning. I know
you are diff'erent. Don't let them influence you.
I want you to be on my side, and do as I tell
you." Her Slajesty spoke very kindly to me,
and her face changed also— not at all the
same face she had that morning. Of course I
promised her that I would be only too happy
to do all I could to please her. She spoke to
me just like a good mother would speak to a
dear child. I changed my opinion and thought
that perhaps after all she was right, but I had
often heard from the officials that one cannot
be good to a eunuch, as he would do all he could
to injure you without any reason whatsoever.

I noticed that day they all seemed to be more
careful in doing their work. I was told that

OUR COSTUMES

171

when once Her Majesty got angry, she would
never finish. On the contrary, she talked to me
very nicely, just as if there had heen no trouhles
at all. She was not difficult to wait upon, only
one had to watch her moods. I thought how
fascinating she was, and I had already forgotten
that she had been angry. She seemed to have
guessed what I was thinking, and said: "I can
make people Hate me worse than poison, and can
also make them love me. I have that power."
I thought she was right there.

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER

On the twenty-sixth day of the fifth moon,
during the morning audience. Prince Ching told
Her Majesty that JSIrs. Conger, the wife of the
American Minister to Peking, had asked for a
private audience, and would Her Majestj' please
mention a day. She told him not to give any
answer until the next day, just to give her time
to think it over. I was sitting behind the large
screen, listening, but the other Court ladies
made too much noise, so Her JIajesty ordered
them not to say a word during audience. I
was very glad myself, because I could listen
to some of the interesting conversations between
the Empress Dowager and her Ministers. After
the audience, Her Majesty ordered her lunch to
be served on the top of the hill at Pai Yuen Dien
{Spreading Cloud Pavilion). She said that she
preferred to walk, so we followed her very slowly.
To get to this place we had to mount two hun-
dred and seventy-two steps, besides ten minutes'
climbing over rough stones. She did not seem
to mind the climbing part at all. It was the
17g

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 173

funniest thing to see two little eunuchs on either
side, to support her arms, trying to keep pace
with her. I noticed that slie was very much
preoccupied, and did not speak to any of us.
When we arrived at our destination we were
very tired and quite exhausted. Her Majesty,
who was a good walker herself, laughed at us.
She was always very mucli pleased when she
excelled in games of skill or endurance. She
said: "You see I am ohj, and can walk much
faster than you young people. You are all no
use. What is the matter with you?" Her
Majestj' was very fond of receiving compliments.
I had been there long enough to know and had
learned to say things which would please her.
She also hated anyone to pay her compliments at
the wrong moment, so one had to he very careful
even in paying her complim^ts.

This "spreading cloud" pavilion was a beau-
tiful Palace. It had an open space in front of
the building, just like one of the courtyards, with
pmk and white oleanders all over the place.
There was a porcelain table and several porcelain
stools. Her Majesty sat on Iier own yellow
satin stool and was drinking her tea in silence.
It was very windy that day, although the sky
was blue with warm sunshine. Her Majesty sat
there just for a few minutes, and then said it was
too windy and went into the building. I was

17+ TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY 1

more than glad to go in, too, and whispered to the
Young Empress that I thouglit the wind might
blow off my headdress. The eunuchs brought
the luncheon and placed everything upon the
table. The Young Empress made a sign for us
to follow her, which we did. When we came to
the back veranda we sat down on tlie window
seats. I will explain about these seats. All the
windows were built low at the Palace, and on the
veranda there was something like a bench built
along the window, about a foot wide. There
were no chairs to be seen excepting Her
Majesty's tlirones. The Young Empress asked
me whether I had noticed that Her Majesty had
something on her mind. I told her that perhaps
she was thinking about the private audience which
Prince Ching had mentioned that morning. She
said that I had guessed right, and asked: "Do
you know anything about this audience? When
will it take place?" I said that Her Majesty
had not yet given her answer.

By this time Her Majesty had finished eating
and was walking up and down the room, watch-
ing us eating. She came over to my mother and
said: "I am just wondering why Mrs. Conger
asks for a private audience. Perhaps she has
something to say to me. I would like to know
just what it is so I can prepare an answer."
My mother said that probably Mrs.

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 175

someone visiting her who wished to be presented
to Her Majesty. "No, it can't be that, because
they must give the list of names of those who
wish to come to the Palace. I don't mind the
formal audiences, but I don't think that I should
have private ones at all. I don't like to be ques-
tioned, as you all know. The foreigners are, of
course, very nice and polite, according to their
own way, but they cannot compare with us, so far
as etiquette is concerned. I may be conservative
in saying that I admire our custom and will
not change it as long as I live. You see our
people are taught to be polite from their earUest
childhood, and just look back at the oldest teach-
ings and compare them with the new. People
seem to like the latter the best. I mean that the
new idea is to be Christians, to chop up their
Ancestral Tablets and bum them. I know many
families here who have broken up because of the
missionaries, who are always influencing the
young people to believe their religion. Now I
tell you why I feel uneasy about this audience
is because we are too pohte to refuse anyone wlio
asks any favors in person. The foreigners don't
seem to understand that. I'll tell you what I
will do. Whenever they ask me anything, I'll
simply tell them that I am not my own boss, but
have to consult with my Ministers ; that although
I am the Empress Dowager of China, I must

176 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

also obey the law. To tell the truth, I like
Madame Uchida (wife of the Japanese Minister
to Peking) very much. She is always very nice
and doesn't ask any silly questions. Of course
the Japanese are very much like ourselves, not
at all forward. Last year, before you came to
the Court, a missionary lady came with Mrs.
Conger, and suggested that I should establish a
school for girls at the Palace. I did not like to
oflfend her, and said that I would take it into
consideration. Now, just imagine it for a mo-
ment. Wouldn't it be foolish to have a school
at the Palace ; besides, where am I going to get so
many girls to study? I have enough to do as it
is. I don't want all the children of the Imperial
family studying at my Palace."

Her Majesty laughed while she was telling us
this, and everyone else laughed, too. She said:
"I am sure you will laugh. Mrs. Conger is a
very nice lady. America is always very friendly
towards China, and I appreciate their nice
behavior at the Palace during the twenty-
sixth year of Kwang Hsu (1900), but I cannot
say that I love the missionaries, too. Li Lien
Ying told me that these missionaries here give
the Chinese a certain medicine, and that after
that they wish to become Christians, and then
they would pretend to tell the Chinese to think
it over very carefully, for they would never force

<
4

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 177

anyone to believe tlieir religion against their own
will. Missionaries also take the poor Chinese
children and gouge their eyes out, and use them
as a kind of medicine." I told her that that was
not true; that I had met a great many mission-
aries, and that they were very kind-hearted and
willing to do anything to help the poor Chinese.
I also told her what they had done for the poor
orphans— given them a home, food and clothing;
that sometimes they went into the interior and
found the bhnd children who might be useless to
their parents, and when they get them they have
to support them. I know several cases like that.
These country people offer their deformed chil-
dren to the missionaries, as they are too poor
to feed and take care of them. I told her about
their schools, and how they helped the poor peo-
ple. Her Majesty then laughed, and said: "Of
course I believe what you say, but why don't
these missionaries stay in their own country and
be useful to their own people?" I thought It
would be of no use for me to talk too much,
but at the same time I would like her to know
of the dreadful times some of the missionaries
had in China. Some time ago, two of them
were murdered at Wu Shuih, in June, 1892 (a
little below Hankow), the church being burnt
down by the mob. My father was appointed by
Viceroy Chang Chih Tung to investigate the

178 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY j

matter. After much trouble he caught three of I
the murderers and, according to the Cliinese law,
they were put to death by lianging in wooden
cages, and the Government paid an indemnity
to the families of the murdered missionaries.
The year after, 1893, a Catholic church was
burnt down at Mar Cheng, on the Yangtse,
near Ichang. The mob said they saw many
blind children at the church, who were made to |
work after having tlieir eyes gouged out. The '
Prefect of Ichang Province said it was true
that missionaries did get the Chinese childrens'
eyes for making medicine, so my father sug-
gested having those blind children brought into
the Yamen and ask them. The Prefect was
a most wicked man, and was very anti-foreign
also. He gave the poor children plenty of food,
and taught them to say tliat the missionaries did
gouge their eyes out, but when they were brought
in the next day they said that the missionaries
treated them very kindly and gave them a nice
home, good food and clothing. They said they
were bhnd long before they became Catholics,
and also said that the Prefect had taught them
to say that the missionaries were cruel to them,
which was not true. The blind children begged
to go back to the school and said that they were
very happy there.

Her Majesty said: "That may be all right for

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 178

them to help the poor and relieve their suffering.
For instance, hke our great Buddha Ju Lai, who
fed the hungry birds with his own flesh. I would
love them if they would leave my people alone.
Let us helieve our own religion. Do you know
how the Boxer rising began? Why, the Chinese
Christians were to blame. The Boxers were
treated badly by them, and wanted revenge.
Of course that is always the trouble with the
low class of people. They went too far, and at
the same time tliought to make themselves rich
by setting fire to every house in Peking. It
made no difference whose house. They wanted
to burn so long as they could get money. These
Chinese Christians are the worst people in China.
They rob the poor country people of their land
and property, and the missionaries, of course,
always protect them, in order to get a share them-
selves. Whenever a Chinese Christian is taken
to the Magistrate's Yamen, he is not supposed
to kneel down on the ground and obey the Chinese
law, as others do, and is always very rude to his
own Government Officials. Then these mission-
aries do the best they can to protect him, whether
he is wrong or not, and believe everything he
says and make tlie magistrate set the prisoner
free. Do you remember that your father es-
tablished rules in the twenty-fourth year of
Kwang Hsu, how the Chinese officials should

180 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

treat the Bishops whenever they had dealings
with each other? I know the common class of
people become Christians — also those who are in
trouble — but I don't believe that any of the high
officials are Cliristians." Her Majesty looked
around and whispered: "Kang Yue Wai (the re-
former hi 1898) tried to make the Emperor be-
lieve that religion. No one shall believe as long
as I live. I must say tliat I admire the foreigners
in some ways. For instance, their navies and
armies, and engineers, but as regards civilization
I should say that China is the first country by
all means. I know that many people believe
that the Government had connections with the
Boxers, but that is not true. As soon as we
found out the trouble we issued several Edicts,
and ordered the soldiers to drive them out, but
they had gone too far already. I made up my
mind not to go out of the Palace at all. I am
an old woman, and did not care whether I died
or not, but Prince Tuang and Duke Lan sug-
gested that we should go at once. They also
suggested that we should go in disguise, which
made me ver\* angn.', and I refused. After the
return of the Court to Peking, I was told that
many i>eople Wlieved that I did go in disguise,
and said that I was dressed in one of my servant's
dotlies. and rode in a broken cart drawn by a
mule, and tliat this old woman sen'ant of mine

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 181

was dressed as the Empress Dowager, and rode
in my sedan chair. I wonder who made that
story up? Of course everyone believed it, and
such a story would get to the foreigners in Peking
without any trouble.

"Now to come back to the question of the
Boxer Rising. How badly I was treated by my
own servants. Xo one seemed anxious to go with
me, and a great many ran away before tlie Court
had any idea of leaving the Capital at all, and
those who stayed would not work, but stood
around and waited to see what was going to
happen. I made up my mind to ask and see
how many would be willing to go, so I said
to everyone: 'If you servants are willing to go
with me, you can do so, and those who are not
willing, can leave me.' I was very much sur-
prised to find that there were very few standing
around listening. Only seventeen eunuchs, two
old women servants and one servant girl, that was
Sho Chu. Those people said they would go with
me, no matter what happened. I had 3,000
eunuchs, but they were nearly all gone before
I had the chance of counting them. Some of
the wicked ones were even rude to me, and threw
my valuable vases on the stone floor, and smashed
them. They knew that I could not punish them
at that important moment, for we were leaving.
I cried very much and prayed for our Great

182 TWO \'EARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Ancestors' Soula to protect us. Everyone knelt
with me and prayed. The Young Empress was
the only one of my family who went with me. A
certain relative of mine, whom I was very fond
of, and gave her everything she asked, refused
to go with me. I knew that the reason she would
not go was because she thought the foreign sol-
diers would catch up the runaway Court, and kill
everyone.

"After we hud been gone about seven days, I
sent one eunucn Imck, to find out who was still In
Peking. She asked this eunuch whether there
were any foreign soldiers chasing us, and whether
I was killed. Soon after the Japanese soldiers
took her Palace, and drove her out. She thought
she was going to die anyway, and as I was not
yet assassinated, she might catch up with the
Court, and go with us. I could not understand
how she traveled so fast. One evening we were
staying at a little country house, when she came in
with her husband, a nice man. She was telling
me how much she had missed me, and how very
anxious she had been all that time to know
whether I was safe or not, and cried. I refused
to listen to what she was saying and told her
plainly that I did not believe a word. From that
time she was finished for me. I had a very hard
time, traveling in a sedan chair, from early
morning, before the sun rose, until dark and in

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 183

the evening had to stop at some country place. I
am sure you would pity me, old as I am, that
I should have had to suffer in that way.

"The Emperor went all the way in a cart,
drawn by a mule, also the Empress. I went
along, and was praying to our Great Ancestors
for protection, but the Emperor was very quiet,
and never opened his mouth. One day some-
thing happened. It rained so much and some
of the chair carriers ran away. Some of the
mules died suddenly. It was very hot, and the
rain was pouring down on our heads. Five small
eunuchs ran away also, because we were obliged
to punish them the night before on account of
their bad behavior to the Magistrate, who did
all he could to make me comfortable, but of course
food was scarce. I heard these eunuchs quar-
reUng with the Magistrate, who bowed to the
ground, begging them to keep quiet, and prom-
ised them everything. I was of course very an-
gry. Traveling under such circumstances one
ought to be satisfied that one was provided for.

"It took us more than a month before we
reached Shi An. I cannot tell you how fatigued
I was, and was of course worrying very much,
which made me quite ill for almost three months.
So long as I Hve I cannot forget it.

"We returned to Peking early in the twenty-
eighth year of Kwang IIsu and I had another

18* TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY 1

dreadful feeling when I saw my own Palace
again. Oh ! it was quite changed ; a great many
valuable ornaments broken or stolen. All the
valuable tilings at the Sea Palace had been taken
away, and someone had broken the fingers of my
white jade Buddha, to whom I used to worship
every day. Several foreigners sat on my throne
and had their photos taken. When I was at the
Shi An I was just like being sent into exile,
although the Viceroy's Yamen was prepared for
us, but the buihling was very old, damp and
unhealthy. The Emperor became ill. It would
take a long time to tell you everything; I thought
I had enough trouble, but this last was the worst.
When I have time, I will tell you more about it.
I want you to know the absolute truth.

"Now let us come back to the question of Mrs.
Conger's private audience. There must be some-
thing special, but I hope that she will not ask
for anything, for I hate to refuse her. Can you
guess what it is?" I told Her Majesty that there
could not be anything special ; besides, Mrs.
Conger considered herself to be a person who
knew Chinese etiquette very well, and I didn't
believe she would ask for anything at all. Her
Majesty said: "The only objection I have is that
Mrs. Conger always brings one of the mission-
aries as her interpreter, when I have your mother,
your sister and yourself, which I think should

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 185

be sufficient. I don't think it is right for her
to do that; hesides, I cannot understand their
Chinese very well. I hke to see the ladies of the
Diplomatic body sometimes, but not the mission-
aries. I will stop that when the opportunity
comes."

The next morning Prince Ching told Her
Majesty that the American Admiral, and Mrs.
Evans, and suite wished to be presented to her.
The American Minister asked two private audi-
ences. He said he had made a mistake by tell-
ing her that Mrs. Conger had asked an audience
for herself, the day before.

After the regular morning audience was over
Her Majesty laughed and said: "Didn't I tell
you yesterday that there must be a reason for
asking an audience? I rather would like to meet
the American Admiral and his wife." Turning
to us she said: "Be sure and fix everything up
pretty, change everj-tbing in my bedroom, so as
not to show them our daily life." We all said
"Jur" (yes), hut we knew it was going to be a
hard task to turn the Palace upside down.

It was just the night before the appointed
audience. We started to work taking oflf the
pink silk curtains from every window, and
changing them for sky blue (the color she hated) ;
then we changed the cushions on the chairs to
the same color. While we were watching the

186 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITT|

eunuchs doing the work, several of them came
into the room, carrying a large tray full of clocks.
By this time her Majesty had come into the room,
and ordered us to remove all her white and green
jade Buddhas and take some of the jade orna-
ments away, for those things were sacred, and
no foreigners should see them, so we replaced
them with these clocks, instead. We also took
away the three embroidered door curtains, and
changed them for ordinary blue satin ones. I
must explain that these three curtains were sa-
cred, too. They were embroidered to repre-
sent five hundred Buddhist deities, on old gold
satin, and had been used by Emperor Tou
Kwang. Her Majesty believed that by hang-
ing these curtains at her door they would guard
against evil spirits entering her room. The
order was that one of us should remember to
place them back again when the audience waft'
over. We fixed every piece of furniture in ht
bedroom. Her toilet table was the most impor-
tant thing. She would not let anyone see it —
not even the wives of the Officials who came in, so
of course we had to put it in a safe place, and lock
it up. We changed her bed from pink color into
blue. All her furniture was made of sandal-
wood, also carvings on her bed. This sandal-
wood, before it was made into furniture, was
placed in different temples, to be sanctified, so of

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 187

course no foreigner could see it. As we could not
take this carving from her bed, we covered it up
with embroidered hangings. While we were
working Her Majesty came in and told us not to
hurry in her bedroom, because the audience the
next day would only be for Admiral Robley
Evans and his staff, and they would not visit the
private rooms. The audience for Mrs. Evans
and the other ladies would be the day after. She
said it was important to see that the Audience
Hall was fixed up properly. She said: "Place
the only carpet we have here in the hall. I don't
like carpets anyway, but it cannot be helped."

After we had finished, Her Majesty started
to tell us what to wear for the ladies' audience.
She said to nie: "You need not come to the throne
to-morrow, there will only be gentlemen. I will
get one of the Ministers from Wai-Wu-Pu
( Bureau of Foreign Affairs ) . I don't want you
to talk to so many strange men. It is not the
Manchu custom. These people are all strangers.
They might go back to America and tell every-
body what you look like." At the same time
Her Majesty gave orders for the Imperial Yel-
low Gown to be brought in next day, for the
gentleman's audience. She said that she must
dress in her official robe for this occasion. This
robe was made of yellow satin, embroidered with
gold dragons. She wore a necklace composed

188 TWO YEARS IN THE PORBIDDEN CITY|

of one hundred and eight pearls, which formed
part of this official dress. She said: "I don't like
to wear this official robe. It is not pretty, hut I
am afraid I will have to." She said to all of us: I
"You need not dress especially."

The next morning Her Majesty got up early,
and was busier than ever. It seemed to me that
whenever we had an audience we always had so
much trouble. Something was sure to go wrong
and make Her Majesty angry. She said: "I
want to look nice, and be amiable, but these peo-
ple always make me angry. I know the Amer-
ican Admiral will go home and tell his people
about me, and I don't want him to have a wrong
impression." It took her almost two hours to
dress her hair, and by that time it was too late for
her usual morning audience, so she proposed hold-
ing that after the foreigners had gone away.
She looked at herself in the looking-glass, with
her Imperial robe on, and told me that she did not
like it, and asked me whether I thought the for-
eigners would know that it was an official robe.
"I look too ugly in yellow. It makes my face
look the same color as my robe," she said. I
suggested that as it was only a private audience,
if she wished to dress differently, it would not
matter at all. She seemed delighted, and I was
afraid lest I had not made a proper suggestion,
but anyway I was too busy to worry. Her

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 189

Majesty ordered that her different gowns should
be brought in, and after looking them over she
selected one embroidered all over with the char-
acter "Shou" {long life), covered with precious
stones and pearls, on pale green satin. She tried
it on, and said that it was becoming to her, so
she ordered me to go to the jewel-room and get
flowers to match for her hair. On one side of
the headdress was the character (shou) and on
the other side was a bat {the bat in China is con-
sidered to he lucky) . Of course her shoes, hand-
kerchiefs and everjiiliing else were embroidered
in the same way. After she was dressed, she
smiled and said ; "I look all right now. We had
better go to the audience hall and wait for them,
and at the same time we can play a game of
dice." Then to us all she said: "AH of you will
stay at the back of the screen during the audi-
ence. You can see all right, but I don't wish
that you should be seen." The eunuchs had laid
the map down on the table and were just going
to commence playing dice, when one of the high
rank eunuchs came into the Hall and, kneeling
down, said that the American Admiral had
arrived at the Palace Gate, together with the
American Minister — ten or twelve people alto-
gether. Her Majesty smiled and said to me;
"I thought it was just going to be the American
Minister and the Admiral, and one or two of

190 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

his staff. Who can the rest of tlie people be?
However, never mind, I will receive them any-
way." We helped her to mount her throne
upon the dais, fixed her clothes, and handed her
the paper containing the speech she was to give.
Then we went back of the screen, with the Young
Empress. It was so very quiet, not a sound
anywliere, that we could hear the boots of
the visitors as they walked over the stones in
the courtyard. We were peeping from behind
the screen, and could see several of the Princes
mounting the steps, conducting these people to
the Hall. The Admiral and the American Min-
ister came in, and stood in a line. They bowed ]
three times to the Empress Dowager. The '
Emperor was also on his throne, sitting at her
left hand. His throne was very small, just like
an ordinary chair. Her Majesty's speech was
simply to welcome the Admiral to China. They
then came up to the daia and shook hands with
their Majesties, ascending on one side, and retir-
ing down the other. Prince Ching took them
into another Palace building, where they had
lunch, and the audience was over. It was very
simple and formal.

After the audience was over Her Majesty said
that she could hear us laughing behind the screen,
and that maybe the people would talk about it,
and did not like it at aU. I told her that it..

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 191

was not myself who laughed. She said: "The
next time when I have men in audience you need
not come into the Audience Hall at all. Of
course it is different when I have my own people
at the morning audiences."

Her Majesty did not go to her hedroom that
afternoon. She said she wanted to wait mitil
these people had gone and hear what they had
to say. After a couple of hours Prince Ching
came in and reported that they had lunched, and
that they were very pleased to have seen Her
Majesty, and had gone away. I must here
explain that the Admiral had entered by the left
gate of the Palace, The middle gate was only
used for Their Majesties, with one exception,
viz. : in the case of anyone presenting credentials.
Then they entered hy the center gate. The
Admiral left by the same gate he had entered.
Her Majesty asked Prince Ching whether he
had showed them around the Palace buildings
or not (this was in the Summer Palace), and
what they had thought about it. Did they say
anything, and were they pleased or not. She
said to Prince Ching: "You can go now, and
make the necessary preparations for the ladies'
audience next day." That same evening Her
Majesty said to us: "You must all dress alike
to-morrow, and wear your prettiest clothes.
These foreign ladies who are coming to the Pal-

193 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN' CITYj

ace may never see us again, and if we don't show
them what we have now, we will not have another
opportunity." She ordered us all, including the
Young Empress, to wear pale blue, also the Sec-
ondary wife of the Emperor. She said to me:
"If the ladies ask who the Secondary wife is, you
can tell them; but if they don't ask, I don't want
you to introduce her to them at all. I have to
be very careful. These people at the Palace
here are not used to seeing so many people and
they might not have nice manners, and the for-
eigners will laugh at them." Then she said to
us again: "I always give presents when ladies
come to the Court, but don't know whether I
will give this time or not, for at the last audience
I did not give anything at all." Addressing me,
she said: "You can prepare some pieces of jade,
in case I need them. Put them in a nice box
and have them all ready. Don't bring them to
me until I ask for them." She said: "We have
talked enough now, and you can all go to
rest." We courtesied good night. I was only
too glad to go to my own room.

The next morning everything went on very
nicely and there was no trouble at all. Her
Majesty was well satisfied, for we had all taken
great care in fixing ourselves up. She said to
me : "You never put enough paint on your face.
People might take you for a widow. You will

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 198

have to paint your lips, as that is the custom.
I don't need you yet, so go back and put some
more paint on." So I went back to my room
and painted myself just like the rest of them,
but I could not help laughing at seehig myself
so changed. By the time I got to her room
again, she said: "Now you look all right. If
you think that powder is expensive, I will buy
some for you." She said that with a laugh, for
she always liked to tease me.

By the time Her Majesty had finished her
toilet, one of the ladies brought a number of
gowns for her to select one from. She said she
would wear pale blue that day. She looked over
twenty or thirty gowns, but found nothing which
suited her, so she gave orders for some more to
be brought in. Finally she chose a blue gown
embroidered with one hundred butterflies, and
wore a purple sleeveless jacket, which was also
embroidered with butterflies. At the bottom
of this' gown were pearl tassels. She wore
her largest pearls, one of which was almost as
large as an egg, and was her favorite jewel.
She only wore this on special occasions. She
wore two jade butterflies on each side of her
headdress. Her bracelets and rings were also
all designed in butterflies, in fact everything
matched. Among her beautiful jewels, she al-

194 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY ]

jessamine was her favorite flower. The Young
Empress and the Court ladies were not allowed
to wear fresh flowers at all unless given to them
by Her Majesty as a special favor. We could
wear pearls and jade, etc., but she said that the
fresh flowers were for her, her idea being that we
were too young, and might spoil fresh flowers if
we wore them. After she was dressed we went
into the Audience Hall. She ordered her cards
to be brought In as she wanted to play solitaire.
She talked all the time she was playing, and said
that we must all be very nice and poUte to the
American ladies, and show them every^vhere.
She said; "It doesn't matter now, for we have
everything changed." She said : "I want to laugh
myself. What is the use of changing every-
thing? They wiU imagine we are always like
this. By and bye, if they question you about
anything, just tell them that it is not so, and
that we change e%'erything at each audience, just
to give them a bit of surprise. You must tell
it some day, otherwise no one will know it at all,
and the trouble would not be woi-th the while."
It was a private audience for ladies, and Her
Majesty did not use the big throne, but was sit-
ting on her httle throne at the left side of the
Audience Hall, where she received her own Min-
isters every morning; the Emperor was stand-
ing. A eunuch came in, the same as the day

I
I

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 195

before, and announced that the ladies had ar-
rived at the Palace Gate, nine in all. Her
Majesty sent some of the Court ladies to meet
them in the courtj-ard, and hring them to the
Audience Hall, which they did. I was standing
at the right side of Her Majesty's chair, and
could see them mounting the steps. Her
Majesty whispered to me, and asked: "Which
one is Mrs. Evans?" As I had never seen the
lady, I answered that I could not tell, but when
they got nearer I saw a lady walking with the
American Minister's wife, and concluded that
she must he Mrs. Evans, and told Her Majesty.
As they got nearer. Her Majesty said: "Again
that missionary lady with Mrs. Conger. I think
she must like to see me. She comes every time.
I will tell her I am very glad to see her always,
and see if she understands what I mean."

Mrs. Conger shook hands with Her Majesty
and presented Mrs. Evans and also the wives
of the American officers. I was watcliing Her
Majesty and saw that she was very nice and
amiable, with such a pleasant smile — so different
from her everyday manner. She told them she
was delighted to see them. Her Majesty
ordered the eunuchs to have chairs brought in
for the ladies, and at the same time other eunuchs
brought in tea. Her Majesty asked Mrs. Evans
whether she liked China; what she thought of

196 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY I

Peking; how long she had heen there; how long
she was going to stay, and where" she was stay-
ing. I was so accustomed to Her Majesty's
questions that I knew exactly what she would
ask. Mrs. Conger told her interpreter to tell
Her Majesty that she had not seen her for such
a long time, and enquired about Her Majesty's
health. Her Majesty said to me: "You tell Mrs.
Conger that I am in good health and that I am
dehghted to see her. It is a pity that I cannot
hold an audience more frequently, otherwise I
could see more of lier." She continued: "The
Imperial Princess (her adopted daughtei^
daughter of Prince Kung) will accompany theih I
to lunch." This ended the audience.

Lunch was served at the back of her own Pal-
ace building (Yang Yuen Hsuen — -the place
where the clouds gather to rest} . This room was
specially furnished as a banqueting room where
refreshments could be served. All the Court
ladies went to the lunch, except Her Majesty,
the Young Empress and the Secondary wife. It
had taken me two hours to fix the table for the
luncheon. Her Majesty ordered that a white
foreign tablecloth should be used, as it looked
cleaner. The eunuch gardeners had decorated
the table with fresh flowers, and Her Majesty
gave instructions as to how the seats were to be
placed. She said: "Mrs, Evans is the guest of

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 197

honor. Although Mrs. Conger is the wife of the
American Minister, she is more of a resident, so
Mrs. Evans must have the principal seat." She
also told me to arrange to seat everybody accord-
ing to their respective ranks. The Imperial
Princess and Princess Shun {Her Majesty's
niece, sister of the Young Empress) were host-
esses, and were to sit opposite each other. We
placed golden menu holders and little gold plates
for almonds and watermelon seeds; the rest all
silver ware, including chopsticks. Her Majesty
ordered that foreign knives and forks should be
provided also. The food was served in Manchu
style, and was composed of twenty-four courses,
besides sweetmeats — candies and fruits. Her
Majesty instructed us that only the best cham-
pagne was to be served. She said: "I know that
foreign ladies love to drink."

I think I was the only one who was really
happy to meet these ladies, more so than the rest
of the Court ladies, the reason being that Her
Majesty lectured them too severely, telling theni
how to behave, so that they had grown to hate
the very mention of a foreign audience. While
we were eating, a eunuch came in and told me
that Her Majesty was waiting at her private
Palace, and that I should bring these ladies there
after the lunch was over. So when we had fin-
ished we entered her own Palace and found her

198 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

waiting there for us. She got up and told me to
ask Sirs. Evans whether she had had anything
to eat — that the food was not very good. (This
is a custom with the Chinese when entertaining,
always to underrate the food. ) She said that she
would like to show Sirs. Evans her private apart-
ments, so that she could form some idea of the
way we lived, so she took Mrs. Evans to one of
her bedrooms. She invited Mrs. Evans and Mrs.
Conger to sit do^vn, and the eunuchs hrought in
tea, as usual. Her Majesty asked Mrs. Evans
to stay a little wliile in Peking, and to visit the
different temples. She said: "Our country,
although very old, has not such fine buildings as
there are in America. I suppose you will find
everj-thing very strange. I am ratlier too old
now, otherwise I would like to travel around the
world. I have read much about different coun-
tries, but of course there is nothing like visiting
the different places and seeing them yourself.
However, one cannot tell. I may be able to go
after all, by and bye, but I am afraid to leave my
own country. By the time I returned I should
not know the place any more, I'm afraid. Here
everything seems to depend on me. Our Em-
peror is quite young."

She then turned and ordered us to take these
ladies to dsit the different buildings of the Pal-
ace, also the famous temple of the King of

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 199

Dragons. This is on a little island in the center
of the lake of the Summer Palace. Mrs. Con-
ger said that she had something to ask Her
Majesty, and told the Slissionary lady to pro-
ceed. AVliile Mrs. Conger was speaking to this
lady Her Majesty became rather impatient as
she wanted to know what they were talking
about, so she asked me. It was very hard for
me to listen to both of the ladies and to Her
Majesty at the same time. The only words I
heard were: "The portrait," so I guessed the
rest. Before I had a chance to tell Her Majesty
this Missionary lady said: "Mrs. Conger has
come with the special object of asking permission
to have Her Majesty's portrait painted by an
American lady artist. Miss Carl, as she is desirous
of sending it to the St. Louis Exhibition, in order
that the American people may form some idea
of what a beautiful lady the Empress Dowager
of China is." Miss Carl is the sister of Mr. F.
Carl who was for so many years Commissioner of
Customs in Chefoo.

Her Majesty looked surprised, for she had
been listening very carefully whilst this lady was
talking. She did not hke to say that she did not
quite understand, so she turned to me, as had
been previously arranged, — a sign for rae to in-
terpret. I did not, however, do so immediately,
so Mrs. Conger told her missionary friend tg

aOO TWO YEARS IX THE FORBIDDEN CITY 1

repeat the request in case Her Majesty had not
quite understood it. Her Slajesty then said to
me: "I cannot quite understand what this lady
says. I think perhaps you can tell me better."
So I explained everj-thing, but I knew that Her
Majesty did not know what a portrait was like,
as, up to that time she had never even had a
photograph taken of herself.

I must here explain that in China a portrait is
only painted after death, in memorium of the
deceased, in order that the following generations
may worship the deceased. I noticed that Her
Majesty was somewhat shocked when the request
was made known to her. I did not want Her
Majesty to appear ignorant before these foreign
ladies, so I pulled her sleeve and told her that I
would explain everything to her later. She re-
plied: "Explain a little to me now." This was
spoken in the Court language, which the visitors
were unable to understand, it being somewhat dif-
ferent from the ordinary Chinese language. This
enabled Her Majesty to form some idea of the
conversation, so she thanked Mrs. Conger for her
kind thought, and promised to give her answer
later. She said to me: "Tell Mrs. Conger that
I cannot decide anj-thing alone, as she is prob-
ably aware that I have to consult with my Min-
isters before deciding anything of an important
character. Tell her that I have to be very care-

THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER 201

ful not to do anything which would give my
people an opportunity to criticize my actions.
I have to adhere to the rules and customs of my
ancestors." I noticed that Her Majesty did not
seem inchned to discuss the subject further at the
moment.

Just then the head eunuch came in and, kneel-
ing down, informed Her Slajesty tliat the boats
for the ladies were ready to take them across the
lake, to see the temple. This action on the part
of the eunuch was owing to his having received a
signal from one of the Court ladies, wliich im-
plied that Her Majesty was getting tired of the
conversation, and wished to change the subject.
I must explain that on every occasion when a
foreign audience was taking place, one of the
Court ladies was always told off to watch Her
Majesty, and whenever she appeared to be dis-
pleased or tired of any particular subject under
discussion, she, the Court lady, would give the
signal to the head eunuch, who would break in
upon the conversation in the above manner, and
thus save the situation from becoming embarrass-
ing. So Her Majesty said good-bye to the
ladies, as she thought it would he too late for
them to have to return to say good-bye, besides
which it would give them more time to see the
various sights.

The ladies then proceeded to the island in the

802 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Empress Dowager's pleasure boat known as the
Imperial barge, previously described, and visited
the temple. This temple is built on top of a
small rock, in the center of which is a natural
cave, and it was generally supposed that no hu-
man being had ever been inside of this cave. The
Empress Dowager believed the popular super-
stition that this hole was the home of the King
of Dragons — from which the temple derives its
name.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

After staying a little while at the temple, we
returned to the Palace, and the ladies said good-
bye and took chairs to the Palace gate, where
their own chairs were waiting for them. I then
went to report to Her Majesty in the usual way
what had heen said by the visitors; whether tliey
had expressed themselves as being pleased with
the reception they had received. Her Majesty
said: "I like Mrs. Evans. I think she is a very
good woman. It seems to me that her manners
are quite different from those of the otlier Amer-
ican ladies whom I have met. I like to meet
people who are polite." Then, referring to the
subject of the portrait Her Majesty said: "I
wonder why Mrs. Conger has this idea. Now
please explain to me what painting a portrait
really is." When I explained that it would be
necessary for her to sit for several hours each day
she was excited, and afraid she would never have
the patience to see it through. She asked me
what she must do during the sitting, so I ex-
plained that she would simply have to pose for
S03

204 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITTi

the 1

I all the 1

: portrait, sitting in one ]
She said: "I shall be an old woman by the time
the portrait is finished." I told her that I had
had my own portrait painted during my stay in
Paris, by the same artist Mrs. Conger had pro-
posed should paint her own portrait (Miss Carl) .
She immediately told me to fetch the portrait of
myself so that she could examine it and see what
it was like, so I gave the order right away to a
eunuch who was standing by to go to my house
and bring it. Her Majesty said: "I do not un-
derstand why I must sit for the portrait.
Couldn't someone else do it for me." I explained
to her that as it was her own portrait, and not
that of somebody else, they wished to paint, it
would he necessarj' for her to sit herself. She
then enquired whether it would be necessary for
her to wear the same dress at each sitting, also
the same jewels and ornaments. I replied that
it would be necessary to do so on each occasion.
Her Majestj' then explained that in China it was
only necessary for an artist to see his subject
once, after which he could start right away and
finish the portrait in a very short time, and
thought that a really first-class foreign artist
should be able to do the same. Of course I ex-
plained the difference between foreign portrait
painting and Chinese, and told her that when she
had seen it she would see the difl'erence and un-

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 205

derstand the reason for so many sittings. She
said: "I wonder what kind of a person this lady
artist is. Does she speak Cliinese?" I said that
I knew Miss Carl very well, and that she was a
very nice lady, but that siie didn't speak Chinese.
She said: *'If her brother has been in the Cus-
toms service for so long, how is it that she doesn't
speak Chinese also?" I told her that Miss Carl
had been away from China for a long time;
that in fact slie had only been in China for
a. very short time altogether, most of her work
being in Europe and America. Her Majesty
said: "I am glad she doesn't understand Chinese.
The only objection about this portrait painting is
that I have to have a foreigner at the Palace all
the time. With my own people gossiping they
might tell her things which I don't want anyone
to know." I told her that would be impossible
as Miss Carl did not understand Chinese at all,
neither did any of the people at Court under-
stand English, with the exception of ourselves
(ray mother, sister and myself). Her Majesty
answered: "You must not rely too much on that,
as after spending a short time at the Court they
will soon learn to understand each other." Con-
tinuing, she said: "By the way, how long will it
take before this portrait is finished?" I told her
that it depended entirely upon how often she sat,
and how long eacli time. I didn't like to tell

206 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY I

her exactly how long it would take, as I was
afraid she might consider it too mucli bother, so
I said that when the artist arrived I would tell |
her to get along and finish the portrait as quickly ]

Her Slajesty said : "I don't see how I can very
well refuse Sirs. Conger's request. Of course
I told her, as you know, that I would have to
consult with mj' Ministers, just to give me time
to think the matter over. If you know all about
this artist lady, and think she is quite aU right
to come here to the Palace, of course she may
come, and I will tell Prince Ching to reply to
Mrs. Conger to that effect. First of all we must
talk over what we are going to do, for to have a
foreign lady staying in the Palace is out of the
question altogether. As a rule I always spend
the summer at my Summer Palace, and it is so
far from the city that I don't think slie will be
able to go to and from the Palace every day, on
account of the distance. Now, where can we
put her? Someone will have to watch her all
the time. This is such a difficult matter that I
hardly know what to decide upon. How would
you like to look after her? Do you think you
could manage it in such a way that no one at the
Palace mil have a chance to talk with her during
the daytime, but who is going to stay and watch
her during the night?" Her Majesty walked up

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

807

and down the room thinking it over for quite a
while. Finally she smiled and said: "I have it.
We can treat her as a prisoner without her know-
ing it, but it will all depend on your mother, your
sister and yourself to act for me in this matter.
Kach of you will have to play your part very
carefully, and I mine also. I wUl give orders
to have the Palace Garden of Prinee Chung
(the Emperor Kwang Hsu's father) fixed up
for Miss Carl during her stay here."

This Palace garden is quite close to Her Maj-
esty's own Palace, ahout ten minutes' drive. It
is not in the Palace ground, hut is quite a sepa-
rate Palace outside the Summer Palace.

Continuing, Her Majesty said: "Now, you
will have to come with her every morning and
return to stay with her every night. I think this
is the safest way out of the difficulty, but be care-
ful with regard to all correspondence which she
may either receive or send away. The only
thing about it is that it will give you a lot of
extra work, but you know how particular I am
over things of this kind, and it will save a lot of
trouble in the end. There is another thing
you will have to be very careful about, and that
is to watch that Miss Carl has no chance to
talk with the Emperor. The reason why I
say this is because, as you know, the Emperor
is of a shy disposition, and might say something

208 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBroDEN CITYl

which would ofFend her. I will appoint four
extra eunuchs to be in attendance during the sit-
tings for tlie portrait, so that they will be on
hand in case anjiihing is wanted," Her Maj-
esty then said : "I noticed that Mrs. Conger was
watching you when you pulled my sleeve. I
wonder what she thought of it. You needn't
care, anyway. Let her think anything she likes.
I understood what you meant if Mrs. Conger
didn't, and that is all that is necessary." I told
her that perhaps Mrs. Conger thought I wanted
to advise her to refuse this request, but Her
Majesty said: "What does that matter? If it
hadn't been that you know the artist yourself I
would not have consented in any case. It is not I
the painting of the portrait that I mind, but it i
might give rise to serious results."

The next morning I received a letter from I
Mrs. Conger begging me not to prejudice Her 1
Majesty against Miss Carl in any way. I trans-
lated this to Her Majesty, and it made her furi- '
ous. She said: "No one has any right to write
to you in such a way. How dare she suggest
that you would say anything against Miss Carl?
Didn't I tell you she was watching you when
you puUed my sleeve? "WTien you reply to that
letter tell her whatever you like, but answer in
the same way she writes herself, or, better still,
you write and inform her that it is not cus-

THE EMPRESS'S POKTRAIT S09

tomary for any Court lady to try and influence
Her Majesty in this country, and that in addi-
tion, you are not so mean as to say anything
against anybody. If you don't like to say that,
just say that as Miss Carl is a personal friend
of yours you certainly would never think of say-
ing anything against her."

I therefore replied to Mrs. Conger's letter in
the ordinary way, making it as formal as pos-
sible.

Her Majesty then talked of nothing but the
portrait during the wliole of that afternoon. By
and bye she said: "I hope that Mrs. Conger wUl
not send a missionary lady with Miss Carl to
keep her company during her stay at the Palace.
If she does I will certainly refuse to sit. The
next morning the eunuch arrived with my por-
trait, and everyone at the Court had a
good look at it before I took it to show
to Her Majesty. Some of them were of the
opinion that it was very much like me,
while the others thought the painting a
very poor one. When I informed Her Majesty
of the arrival of the portrait she ordered that it
should be brought into her bedroom immediately.
She scrutinized it very carefully for a while, even
touching the painting in her curiosity. Finally
she burst out laughing and said: "What a funny
painting this is, it looks as though it had been

aiO TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

painted with oil." (Of course it was an oil
painting.) "Such rough work I never saw in all
my life. The picture itself is marvellously like
you, and I do not hesitate to say that none of
our Chinese painters could get tlie expression
which appears on this picture. What a funny
dress you are wearing in this picture. Why are
your arms and neck all bare? I have heard that
foreign ladies wear their dresses without sleeves
and without collars, but I had no idea that it
was so bad and ugly as the dress you are wearing
here. I cannot imagine how you could do it. I
should have thought you would have been
ashamed to expose yourself in that manner.
Don't wear any more such dresses, please. It
has quite shocked me. What a funny kind of
civilization this is to be sure. Is this dress only
worn on certain occasions, or is it worn any time,
even when gentlemen are present?" I explained
to her that it was the usual evening dress for
ladies and was worn at dinners, balls, receptions,
etc. Her Majesty laughed and exclaimed:
"This is getting worse and worse. Everything
seems to go backwards in foreign countries.
Here we don't even expose our wrists when in
the company of gentlemen, but foreigners seem
to have quite diiferent ideas on the subject.
The Emperor is always talking about reform,
but if this is a sample we had much better remain _

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

as we are. Tell me, have you yet changed your
opinion with regard to foreign customs? Don't
you think that our own customs are much nicer ?"
Of course I was obliged to say "yes" seeing that
she herself was so prejudiced. She again exam-
ined the portrait and said: "Why is it that one
side of your face is painted wliite and the other
black? Tliis is not natural- — your face is not
black. Half of your neck is painted black, too.
How is it?" I explained that it was simply the
shading and was painted exactly as the artist saw
me from the position in which she was sitting.
Her Majesty then enquired: "Do you think that
this Artist lady will paint my picture to look
black also? It is going to America, and I don't
want the people over there to imagine that half
of my face is white and half black." I didn't
like to tell her the truth, that her portrait would
in all probability be painted the same as mine, so
I promised Her Majesty that I would tell the
artist exactly how she wished to be painted. She
then asked me if I knew when the artist pro-
posed commencing the portrait. I told her that
the artist was still in Shanghai, but that Mrs.
Conger had already written to her to come up to
Peking, to make the necessary preparations.
One week later I received a letter from Miss
Carl informing me that she proposed coming up
to Peking at onee, and that she would be de-

S12 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN ClTYl

lighted if Her Majesty would allow her to paint 1
this portrait. I translated the letter to Her Maj- ,
esty, who said: "I am very glad that you know
this lady personally. It will make it much easier
for me. You know there may be some things
which I may want to teU Miss Carl, but which I
don't want Sirs. Conger to know. I mean that
there might be certain things which I shall have
to say to Miss Car], which, if Mrs. Conger heard
of them, would give her the impression that I was
very difficult to please. You understand what
I mean. As this lady is a friend of yours, you
will of course be able to tell her things in such
a manner as not to offend her, and I may tell ]
you again that if it were not that she is a per-
sonal friend of your own I would not have her i
here at all, as it is qviite contrary to our custom."

On the third day of the second-fifth moon i
Prince Ching informed Her Majesty that the
artist had arrived at Peking and was staying
with Mrs. Conger and wished to know Her Maj-
esty's pleasure in regard to commencing the
portrait. Now I must explain that the Chinese
year varies as to the number of moons it contains.
For example, one year contains the ordinary
twelve months or moons. The following year
may contain thirteen moons. Then the two years
following that may contain twelve moons only,
and thirteen moons the next year, and so on. At

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 213

the time of the proposed visit of the artist the
Chinese year contained thirteen moons, there
being two fifth moons in tliat year. When
Prince Ching asked Her Majesty to name the
day on which Miss Carl should commence her
work, she rephed: "I will give her my answer
to-morrow. I must first consult my book, as I
don't want to start this portrait on an unlucky
day." So the next day, after her usual morning
audience Her Majesty consulted this book for
quite a time. Finally she said to me; "Accord-
ing to my book the next lucky day will not occur
for another ten days or so," and handed me the
book to look myself. Eventually she picked out
the twentieth day of the second-fifth moon as
the most luckj' day for beginning the work.
Next she had to consult the book again in order
to fix on the exact hour, fijially fixing on 7
o'clock in the evening. I was very much wor-
ried when she told me that, as by that time it
would be quite dark, so I explained to Her Maj-
esty as nicely as I could that it would be impos-
sible for Miss Carl to work at that hour of the
day. Her Majesty rephed: "Well, we have
electric lights here. Surely that would be suffi-
cient light for her." Then I had to explain that
it would not be possible to get such good results
by means of artificial light as if it were painted
during the daytime. You see I was anxious to

214 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY ]

get her to change tlie hour, as I was sure that
Miss Carl would refuse to paint by means of
electric light. Her Majesty replied: "What a
bother. I can paint pictures myself in any kind
of light, and she ought to be able to do the same."
After much discussion it was finally settled that
10 o'clock on the morning of the twentieth day
of the second-fifth moon should be the time for
Miss Carl to commence to paint this portrait, and
I can assure you that I felt very much relieved
when it was all settled. When the eunuch
brought in my portrait, he also brought in sev-
eral photographs which I had had taken during
my stay in Paris, but I decided not to show them
to Her Majesty in case she should decide to have
a photograph taken instead of having this portrait
painted, as it would be much quicker and save
her the trouble of sitting each day. However, as
Her Majesty was passing on the veranda in
front of my bedroom the next morning she
stepped into the room just to have a look around
and, as she put it, to see whether I kept every-
thing clean, and in good order. This was the
first time she had visited me in my own room,
and I was naturally very much embarrassed, as
she very rarely visited tlie rooms of her Court
ladies. I could not keep her standing, and I
could not ask her to sit down in any of my own
chairs, as it is the Chinese custom that the Em-

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 218

peror and Empress should only sit down in their
own special chairs, which are usually carried by
an attendant wherever they go. I therefore was
on the point of giving an order for her own stool
to be brought in, when Her Majesty stopped
me and said that she would sit on one of the
chairs in the room, and so bring me good luck.
So she sat down in an easy chair. A eunuch
brought in her tea, which I handed to her myself
instead of letting the eunuch wait upon her.
This of course was Court etiquette, and was also
a sign of respect.

After she had finished her tea, she got up and
went around the room, examining everything,
opening up all my bureau drawers and boxes in
order to see whether I kept my things in proper
order. Happening to glance into one corner of
the room she exclaimed: "What are those pic-
tures on the table over there," and walked across
to examine them. As soon as she picked them
up, she exclaimed in much surprise: "Why, they
are all photographs of yourself, and are very
much better than the picture you had painted.
They are more like you. "Why didn't you show
them to me before?" I hardly knew what to an-
swer, and when she saw that I was very much em-
barrassed by her question, she immediately
started talking about something else. She often
acted in this manner when she saw that any of us

216 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

were not quite prepared for any of her questions,!
but she would be sure to reopen the subject at,
some future time, when we were expected to gi'
a direct answer.

After examining the photographs for some-
time, which by the way, were all taken in Euro-
pean dress, Her Majesty said: "Now these are
good photograplis ; much better than the portrait
you had painted. Still I have given my prom-
ise, and I suppose I shall have to keep it. How-
ever, if I do have my photograph taken, it will
not interfere at all with the painting of the por-
trait. The only trouble is I cannot ask an ordi-
nary professional photographer to the Palace*,
It would hardly be the thing."

My mother thereupon explained to Her Maj'
esty that if she desired to have her photograph
taken, one of my brothers, who had studied pho-
tography for some considerable time, would
able to do all that was necessary.

I would hke to explain that I had two brothers
at Court at that time, who held appointments
under the Empress Dowager. One was in
charge of all the electrical installation at the
Summer Palace, and the other, her private
steam launch. It was the custom for all the
sons of the Mancliu officials to hold certain
positions at the Court for two or three years.
They were perfectly free to walk about the

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 317

grounds of the Palace, and saw Her Majesty
daily. Her Majesty was always very kind to
these young men, and chatted with them in quite
a motherly way. These young fellows had to
come to the Palace each morning very early, but
as no man was allowed to stay all night in the
Palace tliey of course had to leave when they
had finished their duties for the day.

When Her Majesty heard what my mother
said, she was very much surprised, and asked
why she had never heen told that my brother
was learned in photography. My mother replied
that she had no idea that Her Majesty wished to
have a photograph taken, and had not dared to
suggest such a thing herself. Her Maj-
esty laughed, and said: "You may suggest any-
thing you like, as I want to try anything that is
new to me, especially as outsiders can know
nothing about it." She gave orders to send for
my brother at once. On his arrival Her Maj-
esty said to him: "I hear that you are a photog-
rapher. I am going to give you something to
do." My brother was kneeling, as was the cus-
tom of the Court, whilst Her Majesty was
addressing him. Everybody, with the exception
of the Court ladies, had to kneel when she was
speaking to them. Even the Emperor himself
was no exception to this rule. Of course the
Court ladies, being constantly in attendance,

818 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBroDEN CITY

were allowed not to kneel, as Her Majesty was
talking to us all the time, and it was her orders
that we should not do so, as it would be wasting
a lot of time.

Her Slajesty asked my brother when he would
be able to come and take her photograph, and
what kind of weather was necessary. My
brother said that he would go back to Peking
tliat night, to fetch his camera, and that he could
take the photograph at any time she desired, as
the weather would not affect the work. So Her
Majesty decided to have her photograph taken
the nest morning. She said: "I want to have
one taken first of all in my chair, when going to
the audience, and you can take some others after-
wards." She also asked my brother how long
she would have to sit, and was surprised to learn
that only a few seconds would suffice. Next
she enquired how long it would be before it was
finished, so that she could see it. My brother
answered that if it were taken in the morning
it could be finished late the same afternoon. Her
Majesty said that was delightful, and expressed
a wish to watch him do the work. She told my
brother that he might select any room in the Pal-
ace to work in, and ordered a eunuch to make
the necessary preparations.

The next day was a beautiful day, and at eight
o'clock my brother was waiting in the courtyard

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

219

with several cameras. Her Majesty went to the
courtyard and examined each of them. She
said : "How funny it is that you can take a per-
son's picture with a thing like that." After the
method of taking the photograph had been fully
explained to her, she commanded one of the
eunuchs to stand in front of the camera so that
she might look through the focusing glass, to
see what it was like. Her Majesty exclaimed:
"Why is it your head is upside down? Are you
standing on your head or feet?" So we ex-
plained when the photo was taken it would not
look that way. She was delighted with the re-
sult of her observations, and said that it was
marvellous. Finally she told me to go and
stand there, as she wanted to have a look at me
througli this glass also. She then exchanged
places with me, and desired that I should look
through the glass and see if I could make out
what she was doing. She waved her hand in
front of the camera, and on my telling her of it,
she was pleased.

She then entered her chair, and ordered the
bearers to proceed. My brotlier took another
photograph of Her Majesty in the procession as
she passed the camera. After she had passed the
camera she turned and asked my brother: "Did
you take a picture?" and on my brother answer-
ing that he had. Her Majesty said: "^Vby didn't

8«0 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

you tell me? I was looking too serious. Nexl
time when you are going to take one, let md
know so that I may try and look pleasant."

I knew that Her Majesty was very muehl
pleased. While we were at the back of thel
screen during the audience, I noticed tliat she!
seemed anxious to get it over, in order to havaS
some more photographs taken. It only took
about twenty minutes to get that particular au
dienee over, which was very rare.

After the people had gone, we came from be-
hind the screen and Her Majesty said: "Let
us go and have some more pictures taken while .
the weather is fine." So she walked the court*j
yard of the Audience Hall, where my brotherl
had a camera ready, and had another photo-
graph taken. She said that she would like to
have some taken sitting ou her throne, exactly
as though she were holding an audience. Ifc
took us only a few minutes to have everythingf^
prepared in the courtyard. Tlie screen was
placed behind the throne, and her footstool was
also placed ready for her, and she ordered one
of the Court ladies to go and bring several gowns i
for her to select from. At the same time I went I
and brought some of her favorite jewelrj'. She
ordered the two gowns which she had worn at
the audiences when she received Admiral Evans
and Mrs. Evans, to be brought in, and also the i

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1,,-r P.iUce

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THE EMPRESS'S PORTKAIT

sai

same jewels as she had worn on those respective
occasions. She had two photographs taken in
these costumes, one in each dress. Next she
wanted one taken in a plain gown, without any
embroidery. She then ordered my brother to
go and finish the pictures which had already been
taken, as she was anxious to see what they were
like. She said to my brother: "You wait a min-
ute, I want to go with you and see how you work
on them." Of course, I had not considered it
necessarj' to explain to Her Majesty the process
of developing the pictures, the dark room, etc.,
so I explained to her as well as I could the whole
thing. Her Majesty replied: "It doesn't mat-
ter. I want to go and see the room, no matter
what kind of a room it is." So we all adjourned
to the dark room in order to see my brother work
on the photographs. We placed a chair so that
Her Majesty could sit down. She said to my
brother: "You must forget that I am here, and
go along with your work just as usual." She
watched for a while, and was very pleased when
she saw that the plates were developing so
quickly. Jly brother held up the plate to the
red light, to enable her to see more distinctly.
Her Majesty said: "It is not very clear. I can
see that it is myself all right, but why is it that
my face and hands are dark?" We explained
to her that when the picture was printed on

322 TWO YEARS I\ THE FORBIDDEN CITY

paper, these dark spots would show white, and
the white parts would be dark. She said:
"Well, one is never too old to learn. This is
something really new to me. I am not sorry
that I suggested having my photograph taken,
and only hope that I shall like the portrait paint-
ing as well." She said to my brother: "Don't
finish these photographs until after I have had
my afternoon rest. I want to see you do it.**
When she got up at about half-past three, it did
not take her long to dress herself, as was her
usual custom, and she went immediately to where
my brother had the papers and ever}i:hing pre-
pared. He then showed Her Majesty how the
printing was done. There was plenty of light,
as it was summer time, and as it was only four
o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still high.
Her Majesty watched for two hours while my
brother was printing, and was delighted to see
each picture come out quite plainly. She held
the first one in her hands so long while exam-
ining the others, that when she came to look at
it again, she found that it had turned quite black.
She could not understand this at all, and ex-
claimed: "Why has this gone black? Is it bad
luck?" We explained to her that it must be
washed after printing, otherwise a strong light
would cause the picture to fade, as this one had

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 223

She said: "How very interesting, and
what a lot of work there is,"

After the printing process had been finished,
my brother placed the pictures in a chemical
bath, as usual, finally washing them in clean
water. This caused Her Majesty even more sur-
prise when she saw how clear the pictures came
out, and caused her to exclaim: "How extraor-
dinary. Everything is quite true to life."
When they were finally completed, she took the
whole of them to her own room and sat down on
her little throne, and gazed at them for a long
time. She even took her mirror in order to com-
pare her reflection with the photographs just
taken.

All this time my brother was standing in the
courtyard awaiting Her Majesty's further com-
mands. Suddenly she recollected this fact, and
said: "Why, I had forgotten all about your
brother. The poor fellow must be still standing
waiting to know what I want next. You go
and tell him — no, I had better go and speak
to him myself. He has worked so hard all the
day, that I want to say something to make him
feel happy." She ordered my brother to print
ten copies of each of the photographs, and to
leave all his cameras at the Palace, in order that
he could proceed with the work the next day.

The following ten days it rained contin-

«24 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN' CITY 1

ually, which made Her Majesty very impatient,
as it was impossible to take any more photo-
graphs until the weather improved. Her ,
Majesty wanted to have some taken in the i
Throne Room, but this room was too dark, the I
upper windows being pasted over with thick
paper, only the lower windows allowing the light
to enter. My brother tried several times, but
failed to get a good picture. i

During this rainy period the Court was moved I
to the Sea Palace, as the Emperor was to sacrifice
at the Temple of Earth. This was a yearly cere-
mony and was carried out on similar lines to all
other annual ceremonies. On account of the
rain Her Blajesty ordered that boats should be
brought alongside the west shore of the Summer
Palace. On entering the boats. Her Majesty,
accompanied by the Court, proceeded to the
Western Gate of the city, and on arrival at the
last bridge, disembarked. Chairs were awaiting
us and we rode to the gate of the Sea Palace.
There we again entered the boats and proceeded ,
across the lake, a distance of about a mile.
While crossing the lake Her Majesty noticed a ,
lot of lotus plants which were in full bloom. She I
said: "We are going to stay at least tliree days
here. I hope the weather will be fine, as I
should like to have some photographs taken in .
the open boats on the lake. I have also another '

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 226

good idea, and that is, I want to have one taken
as 'Kuan Yin' (Goddess of Mersy). The two
chief eunuchs will be dressed as attendants. The
necessary gowns were made some time ago, and
I occasionally put them on. Whenever I have
been angry, or worried over anything, by dress-
ing up as the Goddess of Mercy it helps me to
calm myself, and so play tlie part I represent. I
can assure you that it does help me a great deal,
as it makes me remember that I am looked upon
as being all-merciful. By having a photograph
taken of myself dressed in this costume, I shall
be able to see myself as I ought to be at all times."
When we arrived at the private Palace the
rain ceased. We walked to her bedroom,
although the ground was still in bad condition.
One of Her Majesty's peculiarities was a desire
to go out in the rain and walk about. She would
not even use an imibrella unless it was raining
very heavily. The eunuchs always carried our
umbrellas, but if Her Majesty did not use her
umbrella, of course we could not very well use
ours. The same thing applied in everything.
If Her Majesty wanted to walk, we had to walk
also, and if she decided to ride in her chair, we
had to get into our chairs and ride as well. The
only exception to tliis rule was when Her Maj-
esty, being tired walking, ordered her stool to
rest on. We were not allowed to sit in her pres-

226 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYl

ence, but had to stand all the time. Her Maj-
esty liked her Sea Palace better than her Palace
in the Forbidden City. It was far prettier, and
had the effect of making her good tempered.

Her Majesty ordered us to retire early that
day, as we were all very tired after the trip, and
said that in the event of it being fine the next
day, she would have the proposed photographs
taken. However, much to Her Majesty's dis-
appointment, it rained incessantly for the next
three days, so it was decided to stay a few days
longer. On the last day of our stay it cleared
up suflRciently to enable the photographs to be .
taken, after which we all returned to the Sum^d
mer Palace. 1

The day after our arrival at the Summer Pal-
ace Her Majesty said that we had better prepare
everything for the audience to receive the lady
artist (Miss Carl). She told tlie chief eunuch
to issue orders to all the other eunuchs not to
speak to Miss Carl, but simply be polite as occa-
sion required. We Court ladies received siinilar
orders. Also, that we were not to address Her
Majesty while Miss Carl was present. The
Emperor received similar instructions. Her
Majesty gave orders to have the Gardens of
Prince Chung's Palace ready. She then said to
us: "I trust you three to look after this lady
artist. I have already given orders for food

THE EMPRESS'S rORTRAIT S«7

to be supplied b}' the Wai Wu Pu. The only
thing that I have been worried about is that I
have no foreign food here for Miss Carl." She
ordered us to have our stove taken over to Prince
Chung's Palace in case Miss Carl desired some-
tliing cooked. She said; "I know it will be very
hard for you to take her to the Palace each morn-
ing and return with her at night, besides having to
watch her all day long, but I know you do not
mind. You are doing all this for me." After
a while she smiled, and said: "How selfish of
me. I order you to bring all your things to this
place, but what is your father going to do? The
best thing will be to ask your father to come and
live in the same place. The country air might
benefit him." We kowtowed and thanked Her
Majesty, as this was a special fa^'or, no official
nor anyone else having been allowed to live in
Prince Chung's Palace previously. We all were
very pleased — I could now see my father every
day. Hitherto we had only been able to see
him about once a month, and then only by asking
special leave.

The next day Her Majesty sent us to Prince
Chung's Palace to make all necessary arrange-
ments for Miss Carl's stay.

This Palace of Prince Chung's was a magnifi-
cent place. All the smaller dwellings were quite
separate from each other, not in one large build-

228 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

ing, as was the custom. Tliere was a small lake |
in the grounds, and lovely little paths to walk '
along, exactly like the Empress Dowager's Sum-
mer Palace, but, of course, on a much smaller
scale. We selected one of these small dwellings,
or smnmer houses, for the use of Miss Carl \
during her stay, and had it fitted up nicely, to I
make her as comfortable as possible. We our-
selves were to occupy the next house to Miss
Carl, in order that we might always be oa i
hand, and at the same time keep a good eye on I
her. We returned to the Summer Palace the I
same evening, and told Her Majesty just how
everj-thing had been arranged. She said: "I
want you all to be very careful not to let this
lady know that you are watcliing her." She
seemed very anxious about this, repeating these
instructions for several days prior to Miss Carl's ^
arrival.

I felt very much relieved when the day before '
the audience arrived, and everything was finally
fixed to Her Majesty's satisfaction. She
ordered us to retire early that evening, as she
wanted to rest and look well the next morning.
When morning came we hurried over every-
thing, even the usual morning audience, so that
we could be ready when Miss Carl arrived.

While I was standing behind the screen, as
usual, a eunuch came and told me that Mrs.

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

2S9

Conger, the artist, and another lady had arrived,
and that tliey were now in the waiting room. By
that time tlie audience was about finished. The
chief eunuch came in and told Her ^Majesty tliat
the foreign ladies had arrived and were waiting
in another room. Her Majesty said to us: "I
think I will go to the courtyard and meet them
there." Of course, at all private audiences Her
Majesty received the people in the Throne Room,
but as Miss Carl was more of a guest, she did
not think it necessary to go through the .usual
formal reception.

While we were descending the steps we saw
the ladies entering the gate of the courtyard. I
pointed out Miss Carl to Her Slajesty, and
noticed that she eyed Miss Carl very keenly.
When we arrived hi the courtyard, Sirs. Conger
came forward and greeted Her Majesty and
then presented Miss Carl. Her Majesty's first
impression of Miss Carl was a good one, as Miss
Carl was smiling very pleasantly, and Her
Majesty, who alwaj's liked to see a pleasant
smile, exclaimed to me in an undertone: "She
seems to be a very pleasant person," to which I
replied that I was verj- glad she thought so, as I
was very anxious about the impression Miss Carl
would make on Her Majesty. Her Majesty
watched Miss Carl and myself as we greeted
each other, and I could see that she was satis-

230 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

fied. She told me afterwards that she had no-
ticed Miss Carl appeared very glad to see me
again, and said: "We will handle her pretty-
easily, I think." Her Majesty then went to her
own private Palace, and we all followed. On
our arrival. Miss Carl told me that she had
brought her own canvas. This was a piece ahout
six feet by four feet. I had told Sliss Carl a
little previously that Her Majesty refused to sit
for a very small portrait and that she would like
a h"fe-size one. When Her Majesty saw the
canvas she appeared to be very much disap-
pointed, as in her opinion even that was not large
enough. We placed the tables ready for Miss
Carl, and Her Majesty asked her to choose the
position in which she wished to paint. I knew
that Miss Carl would have great difficulty in
choosmg a good position on account of the win-
dows being built so low, there being very Ut-
ile light except low down near the ground.
However, Miss Carl finally placed the canvas
near the door of the room. Her Majesty told
Mrs. Conger and the rest to sit down for a while
as she wanted to change into another gown. I
followed her into her bedroom. The first ques-
tion Her Majesty asked was how old I thought
Miss Carl was, as she herself could not guess
her age, her hair being extremely light, in fact al-
niost white. I could hardly refrain from laugh-

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

utright

this.

hearing

Majesty that Miss Carl's hair was naturally of a
light color. Her Majesty said that she had
often seen ladies with golden hair, but never one
with wliite hair, excepting old ladies. She said:
"I think that she is very nice, however, and hope
she win paint a good portrait."

Turning to one of the Court ladies, she ordered
her to fetch a yellow gown as although, as she
put it, she did not like yellow, she thought it
would be the best color for a portrait. She
selected one from a number which the Court lady
brought, embroidered all over with purple wis-
teria. Her shoes and handkerchiefs matched.
She also wore a blue silk scarf, embroidered with
the character "Shou" (long life). Each char-
acter had a pearl in the center. She wore a pair
of jade bracelets and also jade nail protectors.
In addition she wore jade butterflies and a tassel
on one side of her headdress, and, as usual, fresh
flowers on the other side. Her Majesty cer-
tainly did look beautiful on that occasion.

By the time she came out fram her room Miss
Carl had everything prepared. When she saw
how Her Majesty was dressed, she exclaimed:
"How beautiful Her Majesty looks in this
dress," which remark I interpreted to Her
Majesty, and it pleased her very much.

She seated herself on her throne, ready to pose

232 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY'l

for the picture. She just sat down in an ordi-
nary easy position, placing one hand on a cushion.
Miss Carl explained: "That is an excellent posi-
tion, as it is so natural. Please do not move."
I told Her Majesty what Miss Carl said, and
she asked me whether she looked aU right, or not.
If not, she would change her position. I assured
her that she looked very grand in that position.
However, she asked the opinion of the Young
Empress and some of the Court ladies, who all
agreed that she could not look better. I could
see that they never looked at Her Majesty at all,
they were too much interested in what Miss Carl
was doing.

When Miss Carl commenced to make the
rough sketch of Her Majesty everyone watched
with open mouth, as they had never seen any-
thing done so easily and so naturally. The
Young Empress whispered to me: "Although I
don't know anything about portrait painting,
still I can see that she is a good artist. She has
never seen any of our clothes and headdresses,
and she has copied them exactly. Just imagine
one of our Chinese artists trying to paint a for-
eign lady, what a mess he would make of it."

After the sketch was finished Her Majesty
was delighted and thought it was wonderful for
Miss Carl to have made it so quickly and so accu-
rately. I explained that this was a rough sketch

■"- I

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

and that when Miss Carl commenced painting,
she would soon see the diflference. Her Majesty
told me to ask Miss Carl whether she was tired
and would like to rest; also to tell her that she
was very busy all the day, and would only be
able to give her a few minutes' sitting each day.
We then took JMiss Carl to luncheon, together
with Mrs. Conger, and after luncheon we accom-
panied Her Majesty to the theatre.

After Mrs. Conger had departed I took Miss
Carl to my room to rest. As soon as we arrived
there, Her Majesty sent a eunuch to call me to
her bedroom. Her Majesty said: "I don't want
this lady to paint during my afternoon rest.
She can rest at the same time. As soon as I
am up you can bring her here to paint. I am
glad that it looks like turning out better than
I had anticipated." I therefore told Miss Carl
Her Majesty's wishes in this respect and that
she could paint for a httle while, if she chose to,
after Her Majesty had had her rest. Miss Carl
was so interested in Her Majesty, she told me
she didn't want to rest at all, but that she would
like to go on with the painting right away. Of
course, I did not like to tell her anything the first
day, as it might upset her, and did not say that
this was a command from Her Majesty. After
a lot of maneuvering I got her to give up the idea
of continuing straight off, without offending her.

«S4 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

I took her out on the veranda as the eunuch
was preparing the table for Her Majesty's din-
ner in the room we were then occupying. The
Young Empress kept Jliss Carl busy talking, I
acting as interpreter. Soon one of the eunuchs
came and informed us that Her Majesty had
finished dinner, and would we please come and
take ours. On entering the room I was very
much surprised to see that chairs had been placed
there, as this had never been done previously,
everybody, with the exception of Her Majesty,
taking their meals standing. The Young Em-
press was also very much surprised and asked
me whether I knew anything about it. I said
that perhaps it was on account of Miss Carl
being there. The Young Empress told me to
go over and ask Her Majesty, as she was afraid
to sit down without receiving orders to do so.
Her Majesty whispered to me: "I don't want
Miss Carl to think we are barbarians, and treat
the Young Empress and the Court ladies in that
manner. Of course, slie does not understand our
Court etiquette and might form a wrong impres-
sion, so you can all sit down without coming over
to thank me, but be natural, as though you were
accustomed to sitting down to dinner every day."
After Her Majesty had washed her hands she
came over to our table. Of course we all stood
up. Her Majesty told me to ask Miss Carl

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

whether she liked the food, and was pleased when
Miss Carl answered that she liked the food bet-
ter than her own kind. That relieved Her Maj-
esty.

After dinner was over I told Miss Carl to say
good-bye to Her Majesty. We courtesied to
her, also to the Young Empress, and said good
night to the Court ladies. We then took Miss
Carl to the Palace of Prince Chung. It took
us about ten minutes' ride in the carts. We
showed Miss Carl her bedroom, and were pleased
to leave her and get to our own rooms, for a
good night's rest.

The next morning we took Miss Carl to the
Palace, and arrived there during the morning
audience. Of course Sliss Carl, being a for-
eigner, could not enter the Throne Room, so we
sat down on the back veranda of the Audience
Hall and waited until it was over. This, of
course, prevented my being in attendance each
morning, as usual, and was a great disappoint-
ment to me, as I was unable to keep in
touch with what was taking place. Moreover,
during the time I had been at Court, my one
object had been to endeavor to interest Her
Majesty in Western customs and civilization. I
believed that to a great extent Her Majesty was
becoming interested in these things, and would
refer the subjects of our conversations to her

S36 TWO YEABS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

Ministers, for their opinions. For instance, I
had shown her photographs taken of a Naval
Review at which I was present in France. Her
Majesty seemed to be impressed, and said that
she would certainly like to be able to make a
similar display in China. This matter she con-
sulted with her Ministers, but they gave the
usual evasive answer, viz.: "There is plenty of
time for that." From this you will see that Her
Majesty was not able to introduce reforms
entirely alone, even though she might desire to
do so, but had to consult the Ministers, who
would always agree with Her Majesty, but
would suggest that the matter be put off for a |
time.

My experience while at the Palace was that
everybody seemed to be afraid to suggest any-
thing new for fear they might get themselves
into trouble.

When Her Majesty came out from the Audi-
ence Hall, Miss Carl went up to her and kissed |
Her Majesty's hand, which caused her great 1
surprise, although she did not show it at the time.
Afterwards, however, when we were alone, she
asked me why Miss Carl had done this, as it was
not a Chinese custom. She naturally thought
that it must be a foreign custom, and therefore
said nothing about it.

Her Majesty then proceeded on foot to her

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 237

own Palace, to change her dress for the por-
trait. It was a beautiful morning, and when
she had posed for about ten minutes, she told
me that she felt too tired to proceed, and asked
if it would be all right to ask Miss Carl to post-
pone it. I explained that as Miss Carl was
going to be at the Palace for some time, the post-
ponement of one day's sitting would not make
much difference at that time, although I knew
that Miss Carl would naturally be disappointed.
Still, I had to humor Her Majesty as much as
possible, otherwise she might have thrown up
the whole thing. Miss Carl said that if Her
Majesty wished to go to rest, she could be work-
ing painting the screen and the throne, and Her
Majesty could pose again later on if she felt like
it. This pleased Her Majesty, and she said that
she would try to sit again after taking her after-
noon's rest. Her Majesty ordered me to give
Miss Carl her lunch in my own room at twelve
o'clock each day, my mother, my sister and my-
self keeping her company. Dinner at the Palace
was usually taken about six o'clock, and it was
arranged that !Miss Carl should take dinner with
the Young Empress and the Court ladies at that
hour, after Her Majesty had finished dining.
Her Majesty also ordered that champagne or
any other wine which Miss Carl preferred, should
be served, as she said she knew it was the custom

288 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEX CITTl

for all foreign ladies to take wine with their meals.,
Where she got hold of this idea, nobody knew.
I was sure that Her Majesty had been misin-
formed by somebody, but it would have been bad
policy to have tried to tell her different at the
moment. She disliked very much to be told that
she was wrong in any of these things, and it could
only be done by waiting and casually introducing
the subject at some other time.

After Miss Carl had gone to rest during
afternoon, Her Majesty sent for me and asked
the usual question, viz.: What had Miss Carl
been saying? etc., etc. She seemed particularly
anxious to know what Miss Carl thought of her,
and when I told her that Miss Carl had said
that she was very beautiful and quite young look-
ing, she said: "Ohl well, of course Miss Carl
would say that to you." However, on my as-
suring her that Miss Carl had given this opinion
without being asked for it, she showed very
plainly that she was not at all displeased with
the compliment.

Suddenly Her Majesty said: "I have been
thinking that if Miss Carl can paint the screen
and the throne, surely she ought to be able to
paint my clothes and jewels, without it being
necessary for me to pose all the time." I told
her that would be quite impossible, as nobody
could hold the things for Miss Carl to get the

THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT 239

proper effect. To my surprise she answered:
"Well, that is easily gotten over. You wear
them in my place." I hardly knew what to say,
but thought I would get out of the difficulty by
telling her that perhaps Miss Carl would not
bke such an arrangement. Her Majesty, how-
ever, could see no possible objection on Miss
Carl's part, as she herself could pose when the
time came for painting her face. So I put the
matter as nicely as possible to Miss Carl, and it
was finally arranged that I should dress in Her
Majesty's robes and jewels whenever Her
Majesty felt too tired to do the posing herself.
In this manner the portrait of the Empress
Dowager was painted, and with the exception of
just a few hours to enable IMiss Carl to get Her
Majesty's facial exjiression, I had to sit for two
hours each morning, and for another two hours
each afternoon until the portrait was finished.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE EMPEHOR'S BIRTHDAY

My father's four months' leave having expired,
he was received in audience by their Majesties
on the first day of the sixth moon. He was
much improved in liealth, but his rheumatism
was still very troublesome. This was particu-
larly noticeable when climbing the steps to the
Audience Hall, and Her Majesty ordered two
of the eunuchs to assist him.

First he thanked Her Majesty for her kind-
ness towards my sister and myself, and, as was
the custom, took off his hat and knelt do%vn, bow-
ing his head until it struck the ground. This
ceremony was always gone through by any oflB-
cial who had received special favors from Their
Majesties.

He then replaced his hat on his head and
remained kneeling before the tlirone. Her
Majesty then questioned him about his Ufe
in Paris, from time to time complimenting him
on his work. Seeing that remaining in this
kneeling position appeared to be making him
tired, Her Majesty ordered one of the eunuchs
MO

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 941

to bring a cushion for him to use, which was
another great honor, as this cushion was only
used by the President of the Grand Council.

Her Majesty told him that as he was now
getting to be a very old man, she did not intend
sending him away from China again, as she
wanted to keep my sister and myself at the
Court, which she could not do if she sent him to
some foreign country, as he would want to take
his daughters with him. She said she was
pleased, that although we had been away from
China for such a long time, we were well ac-
quainted with the Manchu customs. My father
replied that it had been his care that we should
be brought up according to the customs of our
own country.

Her Majesty then asked the Emperor if he
had anything to say, and he replied by asking
my father if he spoke French, and thought it
very strange on learning that he did not. My
father explained that he had never had the time
to study it, besides which he considered himself
too old to learn a foreign language.

The Emperor next asked what was the feeling
in France towards China. My father replied that
they were very friendly at that time, but that
immediately after the Boxer trouble the post of
Minister had been a very embarrassing one. Her
Majesty said that it had been an unfortunate

342 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

affair, but she was glad that everything was
now settled satisfactorily. She told my father
that he was to get well again as quickly as pos-
sible, and the audience came to an end.

Afterwards Her Majesty said that my fath)
was looking very old since his return from
France and that he would have to be careful
and take things easy until he got stronger again.
She was pleased that he had shown appreciation
of her interest in my sister and myself.

Preparations were now commenced for cele^
brating the birthday of His Majesty, the Em-
peror Kwang Hsu, which was to take place on
the 28th of that montli. The actual date of the
Emperor's birthday was the 26th of the sixth
moon, but this day, being the anniversary of
the death of a previous Emperor of China, we
were unable to hold any festivities, and so it was
always celebrated on the 28th day instead. The
official celebration lasted for seven days, three
days before and four days after the actual date.
During that time the whole of the Court dressed
in official robes, and no business of any kind
whatever was attended to. This being the
Emperor's 32nd birthday, and as the full cele-
brations only took place every tenth year, i. e.
on his 20th birthday, his 30th birtliday, and
so on, tlie festivities were not carried out on
very grand scale. However, it was

vas quite suffi- ^^J

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 249

cient to interfere with all business, and the usual
morning audiences did not take place during
these seven days. The Empress Dowager her-
self was the only person who did not dress espe-
cially during these celebrations, and who did not
take any active part in the festivities. Another
reason why the celebrations were not carried out
on a very large scale was the fact that the
Empress Dowager, being alive, she took prece-
dence, according to the Manchu custom, over the
Emperor himself, in fact she was the actual ruler
of the country, the Emperor being second. The
Emperor was quite aware of this fact, and
when the Empress commanded that prepara-
tions be commenced for the celebrations, the
Emperor would always suggest that it was not
at all necessary to celebrate the occasion unless
it happened to be a tenth year, and would
very reluctantly agree to the festivities taking
place. Of course this was more out of polite-
ness on the part of the Emperor and to conform
to the recognized etiquette, but the nation recog-
nized this birthday and naturally celebrated ac-
cording to the usual custom. During this
period, therefore, the painting of the portrait was
postponed.

When the morning of the 25th arrived, the
Emperor dressed himself in his official robe-
yellow gown, embroidered with gold dragons and

844 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY 1

coat of a reddish black color. Of course, being
the Emperor, in place of the usual button on the
hat he wore a large pearl. I might mention that
the Emperor was the only person who could wear
this particular pearl in place of a button. He
came as usual to wish Her Majesty Chi Hsiang
and then proceeded to the temple to worship be-
fore the ancestral tablets. After this ceremony
was over he returned to the Empress Dowager
and kowtowed to her. All the Chinese adopt
this rule of kowtowing to their parents on
their own birthdays, as a sign of reverence and
respect. The Emperor next proceeded to the
Audience Hall, where all the Ministers were
assembled, and received their salutations and con-
gratulations. This ceremony very often caused
amusement, for to see several hundred people all
bobbing their heads up and down, especially when
they did not all manage to do it together, was a
very funny sight. Even the Emperor himself
had to laugh, it was such an extraordinary
spectacle.

The musical instruments which were used dur-
ing the ceremony deserve a little description.
The principal instrument Is made of hard wood,
and has a flat bottom about three feet in diame-
ter, with a dome-shaped top raised about three
feet from the ground. The inside is quite hol-
low. A long pole made of the same

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 345

is used as a drumstick, and an ofBcial, speciaUy
appointed, beats with all his might on the druni.
The noise can be better imagined than described.
This is used as a signal to announce when the
Emperor takes his seat upon the throne. In
addition to the above, a full sized model of a
tiger, also made of similar hard wood, and hav-
ing twenty-four scales on its back, is brought
into the courtyard. In this case they did not
beat the instrument, but scraped along its back
over the scales, which emitted a noise similar to
the letting oflf simultaneously of innumerable
crackers. This noise was kept up during the
whole of the ceremony, and what with the drum
and this tiger instrument it was sufficient to
deafen one. During the ceremony, an official
crier used to call out the different orders, such as
when to kneel, bow, stand up, kowtow, etc., etc.,
but with the noise it was quite impossible to hear
a single word of what he uttered. Another in-
stnmient was composed of a frame made of
wood, about eight feet high by three feet broad.
Across this frame were three wooden bars, from
which was suspended twelve bells, made out of
pure gold. "When these were struck with a
wooden stick the sound was not at all unlike the
dulcimer, only, of course, very much louder.
This was placed on the right side of the Audience
Hall. On the left side a similar instrument was

346 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

placed, with the exception that the bells were
carved out of white jade. The music which
could he hrought out of the instrument was very
sweet.

When this ceremony of receiving the Minis-
ters was concluded, the Emperor proceeded to
his private Palace, where the Young Empress
(his wife), the Secondary wife and all the Court
ladies were gathered, and, after kowtowing, all
of the Court ladies present, led by the Young
Empress, knelt before him and presented him
with a Ru Yee. This is a kind of sceptre.
Some are made out of pure jade, while others
are made out of wood inlaid with jade. This
Ru Yee is a symbol of good luck and was sup-
posed to bring happiness and prosperity to the
person to whom it was presented. The cere-
mony was gone through to the accompaniment
of music played on string instruments, which
was very sweet.

Next the eunuchs were received by the Em-
peror, and they similarly congratulated him, hut
without the accompaniment of music. After the
eunuchs came the servant girls, and the wliole of
the ceremony was over. The Emperor next pro-
ceeded to Her Majesty's Palace, where he knelt
before Her Majesty and thanked her for the
celebration which had been given in his honor,
after which Her Majesty, accompanied by the

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 247

whole Court, went to the theatre to see the play.

On arrival at the theatre we were all presented
by Her Majesty with sweetmeats, this being the
custom on these occasions, and after a little while
Her Majesty retired for her afternoon rest.
Thus the celebration ended.

Two days after the celebration the seventh
moon commenced. The seventh day of the sev-
enth moon was the occasion of another important
anniversary.

The two stars, Niu Lang (Capricorn) and
Chih Nu ( Lyra ) are supposed to be the patrons
of agriculture and weaving and, according to
tradition, were at one time man and wife. As the
result of a quarrel, however, they were doomed
to live apart, being separated from each other
by the "Milky Way." But on the seventh day
of the seventh moon of each year they are allowed
to see each other and the magpies are supposed
to build a bridge to enable them to meet.

The ceremony is rather pecuhar. Several
basins full of water were placed so that the sun's
rays would fall upon them. Her Majesty then
took several tiny needles and dropped one into
each basin. These floated on the water, casting
a shadow across the bottom of the basins. These
shadows took different forms, according to the
position of the needle, and if the shadow took
certain prescribed forms, the person throwing

348 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEX CITY |

in the needle was supposed to be very lucky and
clever, while if they represented certain other
forms, they were despised by the gods as being
ignorant. In addition. Her Majesty burned in-
cense and offered up prayers to the two gods re-
ferred to.

This was always a sad moon for Her Majesty,
it being the anniversary of the death of her hus-
band, the Emperor Hsien Feng, who died on the
17th of that month. The fifteenth of the
seventh moon each year is the day of the fes-
tival for the dead, and early in the morning
the Court moved to the Sea Palace in order to
sacrifice. The Chinese hold that when a person
dies, his soul still remains on the earth, and on
these anniversaries they burn imitation money,
the belief being that the soul of the departed one
will benefit to the extent of the amount of money
so represented. On the anniversary above
referred to Her Majesty sent for hundreds of
Buddhist priests to pray for those unfortunate
people who had died without leaving anyone who
could sacrifice for them. On the evening of
this day, Her Majesty and all her Court ladies
set out in open boats on the lake, where imitation
lotus flowers were arranged as lanterns, with a
candle placed in the centre, which formed a sort
of floating light, the idea being to give light to
the spirits of those who had departed during the

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 249

year, so as to enable them to come and receive
the blessings whicli had been prepared for them.
Her Majesty ordered us to light the candles and
place the flowers on the water ourselves, as she
said it would be appreciated by the spirits of the
dead. Some of the eunuchs had told Her
Majesty that they had actually seen some of
these spirits, which assertion was thoroughly
believed. Although she had never seen them her-
self, she accounted for this by the fact that she
was of too high a rank and the spirits were afraid
of her, but she ordered all the rest of us to keep
a sharp lookout and tell her if we saw anything.
Of course we didn't see anything, but many of
the Court ladies were so frightened that they
closed their eyes for fear they might see some-
thing supernatural.

Her Majesty was devoted to the late Emperor
Hsien Feng, and she was very sad and morose
during this period. We all had to be very care-
ful indeed not to upset her in any way, as she
would find fault on the slightest provocation.
She hardly had a word to say to any of us, and
cried almost incessantly. I could hardly under-
stand the reason for such grief, seeing that the
Emperor had died so many years previously.
None of the Court ladies were allowed to dress
in light-coloured gowns during the whole of the
seventh moon. We all dressed either in dark

250 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY|

blue or pale blue, while Her Majesty herself
dressed in black every day without exception.
Even her handkerchiefs were black. The the-
atres which were usually opened on the first
and fifteenth of each month, were closed dur-
ing the seventh moon. There was no music, and
everything was conducted in the most solemn
manner; in fact, the whole Court was in deep
mourning.

On the morning of the seventeenth day of the
seventh moon. Her Majesty visited the late
Emperor's tablet, and knelt there crying for
quite a while. In order to show respect for the
late Emperor, none of us were allowed to eat
meat for three days. This being my first year
at the Palace, it appeared to me very strange,
after the customary gaiety and noise. Of course
I felt very sorry for Her Majesty, as I could see
that it was a genuine display of grief and was
not in any way put on. As I was her favorite
at that time, she kept me close to her side during
this sad period. The Young Empress said to
me one day : "Her Majesty is very much attached
to you, and I think you had better stay with her
for the time being." This I did, and I was so
miserable myself that when Her Majesty com-
menced crying I would cry also. When she saw
that I was crj'ing. Her Majesty would immedi-
ately stop and ask me not to cry.

The Empress of China dressed as the Goddess of Mcrey, with

Li Lien Ving, first eunuch, and Tsue Yii Gay, second

eunuch, as her attendants

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 251

me that I was too young to cry, and that in any
case I did not know what real sorrow was as yet.
During the conversations we had at that time she
would tell me quite a lot about herself. On one
occasion she said: "You know 1 have had a very
hard life ever since I was a young girl. I was not
a bit happy when with my parents, as I was not
the favorite. My sisters had everything they
wanted, while I was, to a great extent, ignored
altogether. When I first came to the Court,
a lot of the people were jealous of me because
I was considered to be a beautiful woman at
that time. I must say myself that I was a clever
one, for I fought my own battles, and won them,
too. When I arrived at Court the late Emperor
became very much attached to me and would
hardly glance at any of the other ladies. For-
tunately, I was lucky in giving birth to a son, as
it made me the Emperor's undisputed favorite;
but after that I had very bad luck. During the
last year of his reign the Emperor was seized with
a sudden illness. In addition to this the foreign
soldiers burnt down the Palace at Yuen Ming
Yuen, so we fled to Jehol. Of course everybody
knows what took place at that time. I was still
a young woman, with a dying husband and a
young son. The East Empress Dowager's
nephew was a bad man, who coveted the throne,
which he had no right to in any event, as he was

SfiS TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY i

not of royal blood. I would not wish anyone
to experience what I myself passed through at
that time. When the Kmperor was in a dying
condition, heing practically unconscious of what
was taking place around liim, I took my son to
his bedside and asked him what was going to be
done about his successor to the throne. He made
no reply to this, but, as has always been the case
in emergencies, I was equal to the occasion, and
I said to him: 'Here is your son,' on hearing
which he immediately opened his eyes and said:
'Of course he will succeed to the throne.' I nat-
urally felt relieved when this was settled once
and for all. These words were practically the
last he spoke, for he died immediately afterwards.
Although it is now so many years ago, I can see
him now in that dying condition, just as though
it all happened only yesterday.

"I thought that I could be happy with my son
as the Emperor Tung Chi, but unfortunately he
died before he was twenty years of age. Since
that time I have been a changed woman, as all
happiness was over as far as I was concerned
when he died. I bad also quite a lot of trouble
with the East Empress Dowager and found it
very difficult to keep on good terms with her.
However, she died five years after the death of
my son. In addition to all this, when the Empe-
ror Kwang Hsu was brought to me as a baby

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 263

three years old, he was a very sickly child, and
could hardly walk, he was so thin and weak. His
parents seemed to he afraid of ^ving him any-
thing to eat. Yon know his father was Prince
Chung, and his mother was my sister, so of course
he was almost the same as my own son, in fact I
adopted him as such. Even now, after all my
trouhle on Iiis account, he is not in perfect health.
As you know, I have had plenty of other trouhles
beside these, hut it is useless to mention them
now. I am disappointed with everything, as
nothing has turned out as I had expected."
With this remark Her Majesty commenced cry-
ing afresh. Continuing, she said: "People seem
to think that just because I am the Empress
Dowager that I am bound to be happy, but what
I have just told you is not all. I have gone
through much more than that. If ever anything
went wrong, I was always the one who was
blamed. The censors even dare to impeach me
once in a while. However, I am philosopher
enough to take things for what they are worth,
otherwise I would have been in my own grave
long, long ago. Just imagine how small minded
these people are. Amongst other things they ob-
jected to my transferring my Court to the Sum-
mer Palace during the hot weather, although I
could do no harm by being there. Even in the
short time you have spent at Court, you can see

as* TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

that I am unable to decide anything alone, while
whenever they want anything they consult with
each other and then present their petition to me,
which, unless it is something of a very serious
nature, I never think of refusing."

After the time set apart for mourning had
expired, we all went back to the Summer Palace,
where Miss Carl re-commenced her work on Her
Majesty's portrait. Her Majesty apparently
soon got tired of this portrait painting, for one
day she asked me when I tliought it would be
finished. She was afraid that it would not be
finished by the time the cold weather came on,
when we always removed the Court to the For-
bidden City, and slie said it would be a lot of
trouble and inconvenience to have to continue
the portrait there. I told Her Majesty that it
could easily be arranged and that she need not
worry herself.

After I had been posing in Her Majesty's
place for several days Her Majesty asked me
whether Jliss Carl had said anything about it,
and if she did, I was to inform her that it was a
command from Her Majesty, and that I dare
not make any further suggestions in that respect.
So we had no further trouble with Miss Carl
after that. I had, however, quite a lot of trouble
with the eunuchs, who, in spite of Her Majesty's
instructions, were anything but polite to Miss

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY

256

Carl. Of course Miss Carl herself did not know
this. I tried to make them behave better by
threatening to tell Her Majesty about them,
which had a good eflfect for a while, but they were
soon as bad as ever.

At the commencement of the eighth moon, Her
Majesty always attended to the transplanting
of her chrysanthemums, which was one of her
favorite flowers, so each day she would take us
with her to the west side of the lake and, assisted
by us, would cut the tops of the young plants
and set them in flower pots. I was very much
surprised at this, as there were no roots, only
the stems of the flowers, but Her Majesty
assured me that they would soon grow into
very pretty plants. Every day we went over
to water these flowers until they began to hud.
In case it rained heavily, Her Majesty would
order some of the eunuchs to go over and cover
up these chrysanthemum plants with mats, so
that they would not be broken. It was char-
acteristic of Her Majesty that, no matter what
other business she had to attend to, her flowers
had her first consideration and she would, if nec-
essary, even go without her usual rest in order
to superintend them personally. She also spent
quite a time in looking after her orchard, where
she had planted apple trees, pear trees, etc.
Another thing which I began to notice was that

266 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

when the spring and summer days had passed,
she got quite irritable and sad, while in the win-
ter she was simply unbearable. She loathed
cold weather.

One day, during the eighth moon, Her
Majesty was taken slightly ill, and complained
of suffering from severe headaches. This was
the only time I ever saw Her Majesty actually
sick. She, however, got up as usual in the morn-
ing, and held audience, but was unable to take
her luncheon, and very soon had to retire to her
bed. Several doctors were summoned, each of
whom took her pulse. This was quite a cere-
mony in itself. The doctors knelt at the bedside,
and Her Majesty stretched forth her arm, rest-
ing her hand upon a small pillow which was
provided for that purpose. After this each
doctor wrote out his prescription, all of which
were different from each other. We handed them
to Her Majesty, who chose the one which she
thought was the nicest to take, and two attend-
ants and the doctor liimself had to take a dose
in her presence before she would touch it. Then
she would take it all right.

During this time it rained a great deal and
was very hot. The climate at tliis time of the
year is very damp, which causes the flies to make
their appearance in millions. If there was one
thing more than another that Her Majesty

THE EMPEUOR'S BIRTHDAY «B7

detested it was these flies. During the actual
summer they were not so troublesome as at this
particular time. Of course every precaution
was taken to keep them away, a eunuch being
posted at each door, provided with sort of a switch
made of horse hair fastened at the end of a bam-
boo pole. We were never troubled by mos-
quitoes, however ; in fact I never saw a mosquito
curtain in the Palace during the whole of my
stay there. These flies were an abomination,
and in spite of all that could be done a few
would find their way into the rooms. When-
ever they alighted on Her Majesty she would
scream, while if by any chance one were to alight
on her food she would order the whole lot to be
thrown away. This would spoil her appetite for
the whole day and put her into a terrible temper
as well. Whenever she saw one anywhere near
her, she would order whoever happened to be
present to go and catch it. I myself often
received this order, but I detested them almost
as much as Her Majesty did, they were so dirty,
and stuck to one's hands whenever they touched
them.

After her illness Her Majesty was indisposed
more or less for quite a long time, and doctors
were constantly in attendance. She took so
many different kinds of medicine that instead of
getting better she got worse and eventually con-

it5S TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY I

tracted a fever. Her Majesty was very mudi
afraid of fevers of any kind and we had to stay
with her all night and all day and had to take
our meals whenever we could get away from her
hedflide for a few minutes. Another peculiarity
was Her Majesty's aversion for any kind of per-
fume near her when she was sick, while when
she was feehng well she was simply smothered
in it. The same applied to fresh flowers ; in spite
of her love for them under ordinary conditions,
when she was sick she could not bear them any-
where near. Her nerves hecame absolutely
unstrung, as she was unable to sleep during the
day, and consequently the time passed very
slowly to her. In order to make the time pass
a little less tediously, she gave instructions for
one of the better educated eunuchs to read to her
during the daytime. This reading generally
consisted of ancient Chinese historj', poetry and
all kinds of Chinese lore, and while the eunuch
was reading to her we had to stand by her bed-
side, one of us being told off to massage her
legs, wliich seemed to soothe her somewhat. This
same program was gone through every day until
she «-as completely herself again — scane ten days
later.

One day Her Majestj- asked me: "^Vhal kind
of medicine does a foreign doctor usually give
in cftse of a fever? I have beard that they make

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY

S59

j'ou take all kinds of pills. This must be very
dangerous, as you never know what they are
made of. Here in China all medicines are made
from roots, and I can always find out whether
I am receiving the right medicine, as I have a
book which explains what each different medi-
cine is for. Another thing I have heard is that
foreign doctors generally operate on you with a
knife, while we cure the same sickness by means
of our medicine. Li Lien Ying told me that
one of our little eunuchs had a boil on his wrist
and someone advised him to go to the hospital.
Of course they didn't know what they would do,
and the foreign doctor there opened the boil
witli a knife, wliich frightened the child very
much. I was verj' much surprised when I heard
he was all right again in a couple of days." Con-
tinuing, Her Majesty said: "A year ago one of
the foreign ladies came to the Palace, and hear-
ing me cough a lot, gave mc some black pills
and told me to swallow them. I did not like to
offend her, so I took the pills and told her I
would take them by and bye. However, I was
afraid to take them and threw them away." Of
course I answered that I didn't know much about
medicines, to which she repUed that she had
seen me take foreign medicines whenever I was
not feehng well. She then said: "Of course I
know there are people in Peking who do take

260 TWO YEARS IX THE FORBIDDEN i

the medicines given them by foreign doctors and
even some of my own relatives patronize these
foreigners also. They try not to let me know,
but I do know for all that. In any case, if they
choose to kill themselves by taking these things,
it is none of my business; that is the reason why,
when they are sick, I never send my own doctors
to attend them."

When Her Slajesty had completely recovered
from her illness she used to go out on the lake
a great deal, sometimes in an open boat and at
other times in a steam launch. She always
appeared to enjoy this kind of thing. For some
reason or other she always insisted on taking the
west side of the lake, which was very shallow,
and invariably the launch would get stuck fast
in the mud, which seemed to afford Her Majesty-
great enjoj-ment; she simply loved to feel the
launch strike the bottom. The open boats would
then come alongside and we would have to
get out of the launch and enter the boats and
proceed to the top of the nearest hill to watdt
the efforts of tlie eunuchs trying to refloat the
launch. It was a characteristic of Her Majesty
to experience a keen sense of enjoyment at tfaC'
troubles of other people. The eunuchs kneir
this quite well, and whenever opportmiity
offered, they would do something which thqr
thought would amuse Her Majestj-. So long

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY

261

as it was nothing of a serious nature Her
Majesty would always overlook it, but in case
it proved serious or was carelessness, she would
always order them to be severely punished.
Thus it was very hard to tell just what to do
in order to please her.

Another of Her Majesty's peculiarities was
inquisittveness. For example : As I have stated
before, it was the custom for Her Slajesty to
have sweetmeats brouglit to Iier before every
meal, and after she had finished with them, the
remainder were distributed among the Court
ladies. Whenever it happened that we were
very busy, we did not bother with the sweetmeats
at all, which Her Majesty very soon found out.
One day, after she had finished dining, she came
and looked through the window to see what we
were doing, and saw some of the eunuchs eating
the sweetmeats whicli she had given to us. She
did not say anything, but simply ordered that
the sweetmeats should be brought back again,
making us believe that she wanted some more
herself. I knew that there was something
wrong, as she never ordered them back before.
When she saw what was left of them, she asked
who had been eating so many, as they were nearly
all finished, but she got no reply— we were all
too scared. However, after thinking it over, I
came to the conclusion that it would he best to

«flS TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

tell her the truth, for I ^

1 quite

i that

; certain

Hhr knew atiyhow. So I told her that we had all
lu'cri very busy and had forgotten all about the
swcftnit'iits, and that the eunuchs had come and
tiikcti thcni themselves, and I added that this
witJi not tlie first time they had done so. I was
nither glad that she had given me this oppor-
tiuiity to rciHirl the eunuchs, for Her Majesty
rt-plied that if slie intended the eunuchs to have
swectuK'Hts. she herself could g^ve them some,
but thought it a lack of appreciation on our part
not «»ting theju oiirseh-es after she had been so
kinil as to provide them for us. She turned to
nw. (Uul said: "I am j^ad that you hare told the
truth, as I saw mx-^f what was happening."
She gftve orders that Uie offending cunuciB
akiould tnA have three mootfas* wages dedaetod
w a punMiment. but of course I knew vcit wdl
they didnt nund that, as they w«e makiry tamij

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY 263

lot, but could not see what cause they had to be
against me in any way. I knew tliey dare not
say anytliing against me to Her Majesty, so I
forgot all about the matter. I found out after-
wards that one of the tricks they used to play on
any of the Court ladies who offended tliem was
to try and prejudice Her Majesty against us.
For instance, if Her Majesty told one of the
eunuchs that a certain thing should be done,
instead of telling me what Her Majesty wanted,
the eunuch would go off to one of the other ladies
and tell her. In this way Her Majesty would
get the impression that I was too lazy to wait
upon her myself, and of course the other lady
would get all the credit. Although Her Majesty
was very kind to me, also the Young Empress,
it was very hard to get along with eunuchs, and
it was not good policy to offend them in any way.
They regarded themselves as being exclusively
the sei-vants of Her Majesty, the Empress Dow-
ager, and refused to take instructions from any-
body else, consequently they were often very
rude to the other ladies of the Court, not even
excepting the Young Empress.

Everytliing proceeded as usual until the eighth
moon, when the Emperor was to sacrifice at the
"Temple of the Sun." On this occasion the
Emperor wore a red robe.

About tliis time Mrs. Conger asked for a pri-

264 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEiV CITY

vate audience, as she wanted to see Her Majesty
and at the same time see how the portrait was
progressing. Her Majesty replied tliat she
would receive her and gave orders accordingly.
At this private audience Mrs. Conger brought
into the Court two of her relatives to be pre-
sented to Her Majesty, besides Miss Campbell
and a missionary lady. As it was a private audi-
ence, the guests were conducted to Her Majesty's
private Palace. They were received in the hall
which was being used as studio for this lady
artist, although Her Majesty was out of patience
with the portrait painting, and talked to us a
great deal about it, yet when she saw Mrs.
Conger and the others she was extremely polite
and told them that the portrait was going to be
a masterpiece. She was in an unusually good
humor that day and told me to give orders to
the eunuchs to open all the buildings and show
them to her guests. Her Majesty led the way
from one room to another and showed them her
curios in the different rooms, until she came to
rest in one of the bedrooms, when she ordered
chairs to be brought in for the guests. There
were many chairs in this room, but they were
really small thrones of Her Majesty's, although
they looked like any ordinary chairs. The cus-
tom is that no matter what kind of a chair
it may be, as soon as she uses it, it is at

THE EMPEROR'S BIHTHDAY

865

once called her throne and no one is allowed to sit
on it thereafter unless the order is given by
her.

During the time the eunuchs were bringing in
the chairs kept purposely for foreigners to use,
one of the ladies of the party made a mistake
and sat upon one of Her Majesty's thrones. I
noticed her at once, and before I had a chance
to warn her, Her Majesty made a sign of annoy-
ance to me. I went to this lady at once and told
her I wanted to show her something and nat-
urally she was obliged to get up. The trouble
was this, although Her Majesty felt that no one
had the right to sit upon her tlirone, she expected
me to get this lady oflf the chair and at the same
time not to tell her the reason why. While I
was busy interpreting for her, she said in an
undertone: "There she is again, sitting on my
bed. We had better leave this room." After
this the ladies were conducted to the refreshment
room, and when they had partaken of lunch,
bade Her Slajesty good-bye, leaving Miss Carl
with us. As usual we reported to her that we
had seen the guests safely off. She said to me:
"That was a funny lady: first she sat upon my
throne, and then upon my bed. Perhaps she
does not know what a throne is when she sees
one, and yet foreigners laugh at us. I am sure
that our manners are far superior to theirs.

266 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

Another thing — did you notice that Mrs. Conger
handed a parcel to Miss Carl out in the court-
yard when she came in?" I replied that I had
noticed her passing" something hke a parcel, but
could not tell what the parcel contained. She
thereupon told me to go and ask Miss Carl what
it was. At that time I had received so many
peculiar orders from Her Majesty that I was
beginning to get accustomed to them and used
my own discretion in carrying out her instruc-
tions. Therefore I did not ask Miss Carl, but
set about finding out for myself. However,
when I began to look around for the parcel, it
had mysteriously disappeared and I could not
find the thing anywhere. This naturally wor-
ried me, knowing as I did that Her Majestj'
liked her instructions carried out quickly. WKle
I was searching, one of the eunuchs came in and
told nie that Her Majesty wanted to see me,
and of course I had to go to her. Before she
could say anjihing to me, I informed Her
Majesty that I had not been able to ask Miss
Carl about the parcel as she was asleep, but
would do so immediately she got up. Her
Majesty said: "I don't want Miss Carl to think
I have told you to ask what the parcel contains,
otherwise she might think I am suspicious of
what is going on, so you must manage to get the
information somehow without mentioning the

THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY

267

matter; you are clever enough to do that much."
Shortly afterwards, while I was walking along
with iliss Carl to Her Majesty's Palace, to
proceed with the portrait, I noticed that she
was carrying the parcel in question, which was
a. great rehef to me, I can assure you. On
arrival at the Palace, JMiss Carl said to me:
"You need not trouble to pose at present, as
it is rather dark, and I can he painting the
throne; you can look through this magazine,
if you like, to pass the time away." So I
opened up the parcel, which proved to contain
nothing more than an ordinary American
monthly magazine. After glancing through the
book, I made an excuse to hurry away and
inform Her Majesty. However, she had
already gone out for her usual trip on the lake,
so I took my chair and followed. When I
reached the lake, Her IMajesty, who had seen
me, sent a small boat and I was rowed out to
the launch. Before I could get a chance to
speak. Her Majesty said with a smile: "I know
all about it, it was a book and Miss Carl handed
it to you to read." I was very much disap-
pointed that I had had my journey for nothing.
I knew that the eunuchs would report it to Her
Majesty at the first opportunity, but I hardly
expected they would have done so already. Her
Majesty was now quite satisfied, and simply

868 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBmDEN CIT

asked whether Miss Carl suspected that she hod
enquired about the matter.

As I was about to return to Miss Carl, Her
Majesty called me and said: "There is one thing
I want to tell you and tliat is whenever any for-
eign ladies are visiting the Palace, always keep
close to the Emperor so that in the event of their
speaking to him you can interpret." I answered
that so far whenever any foreigners were present
I was present also and did not think tliat any-
body had held any conversation with the Em-
peror whatsoever. She explained that her rea-
son for mentioning this was that she wanted me
to be just as courteous to the Emperor as I was
to herself, and I was to place myself entirely at
his disposal whenever visitors were present. Of
course I knew very well that this was not the
true reason at all but that she wanted to take
every precaution to preclude the possibility of
foreigners influencing the Emperor in matters
of reform, etc.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAI.

On the fifteenth day of the eighth moon came
the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival,
sometimes called the Moon Festival.

This name is derived from the belief which the
Chinese hold that the moon is not permanently
round when full, but that on this particular day
it is a perfect circle. The ceremony which is
gone through is conducted entirely by the Court
ladies and consists of worshiping the moon as
soon as it appears in the sky. In other respects
the celebrations are exactly the same as in the
Dragon Boat Festival, presents were exchanged
between Her Majesty and the Court officials.
The festival concluded with a theatrical per-
formance which describes a scene in the moon.
The belief is that a beautiful maiden lives in the
moon, her only companion being a white rabbit,
called a Jade Rabbit. According to the play
this rabbit escapes from the moon to the Earth
and becomes a young and beautiful girl. A
golden rooster which lives in the sun, becoming
aware of the rabbit's descent to the earth, himself

270 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITV"!

descends from the sun and changes into a hand-
some prince. Of course they very naturally
meet and immediately fall in love. Now, on
the earth lived another rabbit — a red one, who,
on finding out what was going on, changed him-
self into a prince also and set about making love
to the beautiful maiden with the object of cut-
ting out the rooster. However, he was seriously
handicapped inasmuch as he was unable to change
the color of his face, which remained red, there-
fore his love making met with no success and the
rooster prince had it all his own way. At this
point, the beautiful maiden in the moon, on dis-
covering her loss, sent the soldiers of Heaven to
re-capture her rabbit, with the result that she
was taken back to the moon and the rooster be-
ing left alone, had no alternative but to reluc-
tantly return to his home in the sun.

During this performance the head eunudi
brought a young man into the courtyard, who
kowtowed to Her JIajestj'. This was such an
unusual occurrence that ever>'body noticed it.
I could see that he was a stranger and did not
belong to the Court and I wondered who be
could be. At the other end of the veranda I
saw two or three of the Court ladies whispering
together and smiling. They finally came over to
me and asked if I knew who he was. I told
them that he was a stranger to me and they ought

THE MID-AUTUiMN FESTIVAL

271

to know better than I did as they had been at the
Court much longer. Anyhow I gave it as my
opinion that he was decidedly ugly. That same
evening Her Majesty asked me whether I had
noticed this young man, and told me that he was
the son of a very high Manchu official; that his
father was dead and that he had succeeded to
the title and to a large amount of money. I was
surprised that Her Majesty should give such a
lengthy explanation about this young man, hut
I told her that I did not think him very hand-
some. Her Majesty was talking in a very seri-
ous manner but I did not think anything of the
occurrence at the time but a few days later
while I was posing for the portrait I heard Her
Majesty whispering to my mother at the other
end of the room. I saw that Her Majesty was
holding a photograph in her hands which she
showed to my mother, at the same time asking
whether my mother considered him good looking.
My mother answered "not very." On Her
Majesty replying that beauty was not every-
thing I began to suspect that there was something
going on which directly concerned me. I be-
gan to think of some excuse in order to get out
of what I could plainly see was a proposed mar-
riage between myself and this gentleman. I
knew that if Her Majesty had made up her
mind that I was to marry him I could not help

a7a TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITTl

myself, but, at the same time, I made up
my own mind that rather than marry anyone
whom I did not like, especially one I had
never seen before, I would leave the Court alto-
gether. When Her Majesty retired for her
usual afternoon rest she told me she wanted to
see me for a moment. After beating about the
bush for some time, she asked me whether I would
like to stay with her always or whether I would
like to go away again to some foreign country.
I at once answered that I was quite satisHed to
stay with her as long as she cared to have me but
that when she was tired of me she could then
send me away. Her Majesty informed me that
it had been her intention to marry me to this
young gentleman and asked my opinion. I told
her that I did not want to get married at all»
especially seeing that my father was sick at this
time, and leaving home to go to live apart from
my family would break his heart and perhaps
be the cause of his premature death. Her Maj-
esty said that was no excuse as I should not have
to go out of China but would be able to see my
father and family any time I wished. I told
Her Majesty that I would much rather stay
with her altogether and that I did not want
to marry anybody. Her Majesty then said:
"I won't listen to any excuse. I have already
explained everything to your mother, but m

THE MID^AUTUMN FESTIVAL

873

to my surprise she said it would be better to
mention it to you first, on account of your having
been brought up differently from tlie rest of the
Court ladies. Had it not been for this fact I
would simply have arranged everj-thing with
your mother and the matter would have been
settled so far as you were concerned." I could
not say anything in answer to this, so commenced
to cry. I told Her Majesty that I was not like
the rest of the Court ladies who pretended they
did not want to marry, when all the time they
were simply looking forward to getting married,
if only for the change from the monotony of
Court life. I promised that X would stay with
her forever, and that I had no desire to go away
from China again. I explained that I should
not have gone away at all had it not been that
my father was transferred to Paris. Her Maj-
esty said: "Oh, well, I am very glad that you
did go away as you are more useful to me than
you would have been had you stayed in China
all your life." After a lot more discussion Her
Majesty said: "Well, I will leave you to think
the matter over. If you don't like the young
man I have chosen there are plenty of others,"
which remark did not help me very much as I
could see that she meant to marry me off any-
way. However, I had managed to get out of it
this time, and thought I would be able to arrange

274 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

matters satisfactorily should the question come
up again. Nothing further was said about
the matter until nearly a month later when I
heard that a marriage had been arranged be-
tween this gentleman and the daughter of one
of the princes. So everytliing ended very satis-
factorily from my point of view.

The twenty-sixth day of the eighth moon was
the occasion of another celebration. At the time
the Manchu Dynasty began, Emperor Shung
Chih, who had fought very hard to gain the
throne, found himself on the twenty-sixth day
of the eighth moon, absolutely out of provi-
sions of every kind and it was necessary for
him and his army to live on the leaves of trees,
which was the only form of food obtainable a,\
the time. Thus the anniversary of this day,
even up to the present time, is always cele-
brated fay the Manchu people, who deny them-
selves all luxuries, especially at the Court. We
did not eat any meat on that day, but only rice
wrapped in lettuce leaves. Chopsticks were also
discarded and the food was conveyed to the
mouth by the hands alone. Even the Empress
Dowager was no exception to this rule. This is
done in order to remind the present generation
of the privation suffered by their ancestors who
established the Manchu Dynasty,

Towards the close of the eighth moon Hep

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL S75

Majesty's gourd plants, which had been planted
early in the spring, were ripening, and each day
she would take us all to see what progress tliey
were making. She would pick out those which
she considered to be the most perfect in form, i. e.,
those with the smallest waist and tie ribbons
around them so as not to lose sight of them.
She pointed to one of these plants one day, and
said to me: "This reminds me of yourself when
dressed in foreign clothes. Surely you feel more
comfortable in the clothes you are now wear-
ing." When these gourds were quite ripe they
were cut down and Her Slajesty would scrape
the outer skin with a bamboo knife, afterwards
wiping the fruit with a wet cloth. They were
then allowed to dry and after a few days they
would assume a brownish color, when they were
ready for hanging as ornaments in the Summer
Palace. In one room alone there were over
10,000 of these gourds, of different shapes. It
was the duty of the Court ladies to periodically
wipe these gourds with a cloth, in order to give
them a shiny appearance, and also to scrape any
new ones which were pulled and prepare them for
the Palace. None of us cared very much about
this work excepting Her Majesty. One day
whilst attending to these gourds I happened to
knock the top off one of the old ones which was
Her Majesty's particular favorite. I dared not

276 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

go and tell Her Majesty what had happened and
one of the Court ladies suggested throwing the
thing away altogether and saying nothing about
it as Her Majesty would not be likely to find
it out, having so many of them. However, I
finally decided to go and tell Her Majesty about
it, and take punishment if necessary. For
a wonder Her Majestj' did not make much
bother about it. She said: "WeU it was quite
an old one in any case and the top was ready to
drop off at any time ; it so happens that you were
the one to wipe it, and of course it came off. It
can't be helped." I told Her Majesty that I
was very much ashamed at being so careless, es- i
pecially as I knew it was one of her favorites,
and there the matter ended. All the rest of the
Court ladies were in the waitingroom and were
anxious to know how I would get out of it, and
when I told them they said that had it been any
of them there would Iiave been a fine row. They
laughed, and said it must be nice to be a favorite
wliich made me feel very uncomfortable, I told
the Young Empress exactly what had happenedt
and she said I was quite right to tell Her Maj-
esty the truth and told me to be very careful as
there was much jealousy going on.

At the beginning of the ninth moon the chry-
santhemums commence to bud and it was the
duty of the ladies of the Court to go and trim

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

277

H them each day by cutting away all the buds
except one on each stalk. This trimming gives
the flower a better chance of developing, a much
larger blossom being the result. Even Her
Majesty would help with this work. She was
very particular about these plants, and would
not allow any of us to meddle with them if our
hands were not perfectly cool, as to touch them
with hot hands would cause the leaves to shrivel
up. These -flowers are generally in full bloom
about the end of the ninth moon or beginning of
the tenth moon. Her Majesty had a wonder-
ful gift of being able to tell what kind of flower
would bloom from each separate plant, even be-
fore the buds appeared. She would saj': "This
is going to he a red flower," and we would place
a bamboo stick in the flower pot, with the name
written on it. Then another. Her Majesty
would declare to be a white one and we would
place a similar bamboo stick in the flower pot,
with the description, and so on. Her Majesty
said; "This is your first year at the Palace and
no doubt you are surprised at what you have
just seen and heard me say, but I have never yet
made a mistake. For you will see when the
flowers commence to bloom." It was a fact as
everything turned out exactly as she had pre-
dicted. None of us ever knew how she was
^ able to distinguish one from the other, but she

278 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYf

was always right. I did once ask her to explain
how she was able to tell but she answered that
it was a secret.

All this time the portrait was proceeding very
slowly and one day Her Majesty asked me how
long I thought it would be before it was finished
and what the custom in Europe was as regards
remuneration for such a portrait. I replied that
it was customary to pay very handsomely, but
she would not hear of such a suggestion, saying
that in Cliina it was not the custom and that it
would be regarded as an insult to offer money
for such a service. She suggested decorating
Miss Carl as a reward for her services, which she
considered would be appreciated far more than
a money present. There was nothing for me to
say at this time but I determined to mention the
matter again when a favorable opportunity oc-
curred.

During the ninth moon a Russian circus vis*
ited Peking and of course everybody talked of
httle else. Her Majesty, hearing so much
talk about this circus asked what it was like,
and after we had explained to her, she became
very interested and said that she would like to
see it. My mother thought it would be a good
idea to have the circus brought up to the Summer
Palace, where they could perform, so she asked
Her Majesty whether this might be done. Her

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL 279

Majesty was delighted with the idea, and ar-
rangements were accordingly made for the per-
formance. While everything was being fixed,
the people belonging to the circus, and the
animals, were quartered near our own house and
we had to feed them at our own expense. How-
ever, we wanted to show Her Majesty what a
circus was like so the expense did not matter.
It took them two days to erect the tent and
make all necessary preparations, and during this
time Her Majesty received reports as to what
was being done, and the progress they were mak-
ing.

The day before the performance, we noticed
that Her Majesty, on coming from her audience,
looked very angry, and on our enquiring what
was the matter she informed my mother and my-
self that some censors had raised objections
against having this circus in the Palace grounds,
as there had never been anything of this kind al-
lowed before and they had begged Her Majesty
to give up the idea. Her Majesty was very an-
gry, and said: "You see how much power I
have here; I cannot even have a circus without
somebody raising objections. I think we had
better pay them something and let them go
away." Of course we agreed to anj'thing she
thought best. After considering for a time Her
Majesty jumped up and said: "They have the

280 TWO YKARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

tent up already; they will talk just the same
whether we have tlie circus or not; I wUl have
it anyway." So the performance duly took,
place and Her Majesty and all the Court were
delighted. One item consisted of a young giH'
walking and dancing on a large globe. This
especially pleased Her Majesty and she Insisted
on the ]>erfonnance being repeated several times.
Another item of interest was the trapeze act.
Of course nobody present with the exception of
my mother, sister and myself had ever seen a cir-
cus performance before, and Her Majesty was
very much afraid that the man would fall from
the trapeze and kill himself. Another thing
which interested Her Majesty was the bare-back
riding, which she thought simply wonderful.
The only objection to the whole show which she
raised was when it was suggested to bring in
the hons and tigers, etc. She said it was not
safe to bring wild beasts into the Palace and that
she would rather not see this part of the per-
formance. The proprietor of the circus, how-
ever, brought in a small baby elephant which
performed several clever tricks. This deUghted
Her Majesty more than anything else and when
the proprietor saw how pleased she was he offered
the elephant as a present, which she accepted.
However, after the performance was over we
tried to make him go through his tricks again

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

281

but he would not budge an inch, so we had to give
it up as a bad job and send him away to be
placed along with the other elephants belonging
to the Palace.

Altogether there were three performances
given by the circus, and before the final per-
formance, the circus Manager told me that be
would very much like to show the lions and
tigers: there was no chance of any accident and
it really would be worth seeing. So after a lot
of discussion Her JIajesty finally consented to
allow them to be brought in but on the distinct
understanding that they should not be let out of
their cages.

^Vhen they were brought in the ring all the
eunuchs gathered around Her Majesty, and after
remaining in the ring for a few minutes Her
Majesty ordered them to be taken away again.
She said: "I am not afraid for myself, but they
might get loose and hurt some of the people."
This item finished the whole of the performance
and the circus departed richer by some Taels
10,000 which Her Majesty had ordered to be
given to them.

For the next couple of days we discussed the
merits of the circus but afterwards, Her Maj-
esty, when referring to the subject, expressed
great disappointment with the whole thing.
She said she had expected something entirely

S83 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

different and far more wonderful. This was an-
other characteristic of Her Majesty; nothing
pleased her for more than five minutes at a time.
She said to me: "I don't see anj-thing at all won-
derful in foreign accomplishments. Take for
instance this portrait which this lady is paint-
ing. I don't think it is going to be at all a good
picture, it seems so rough. (Her ^Majesty did not
understand oil painting). Then again why
should she always want to have the things before
her while painting them. An ordinary Chinese
artist could paint my dress, shoes, etc., after
seeing the things once. She carmot he very much
of an artist in my opinion, though you need not |
tell her that I said so." Continuing, Her Maj- J
esty said: "By the way, what do you talk about f
when you are posing for this portrait of mine;
although I don't understand what she is saying,
still I can see she has a lot to say. Be sure not to J
tell her anything connected with the Court life t
and do not teach her any Chinese. I bear that
she often asks what different things are called
in Chinese, hut don't tell her. The less she
knows the better for us. I can see that she has j
seen nothing of our ordinary Court life, as yet.
I wonder what she would say if she were to s
one of the eunuchs being punished, or anything 1
like that. She would tliink that we were savages*
I suppose. I noticed the other day, when I was j

THE MID-AUTtJMN FESTIVAL

283

angry, that you took this lady artist away. This
was very wise of you; it is better that she should
not see me in a temper, she might talk about it
afterwards. I wish this portrait was finished.
The cool weather is coming on and we have to
open up the boxes and get our winter clothes
ready. You girls need winter clothes I know
as you have none but foreign dresses. Then,
again, my birthday is next month and there
will be the usual celebrations. After that we
return to the Sea Palace, and what can we do
with this artist? I suppose she will have to go
back and stay at the American Legation and
come to the Sea Palace each day until the work
is finished. This will be a lot of trouble as it is
not ten minutes' drive as at present, but nearer
an hour's drive. And even if this can be satis-
factorily arranged, what about the Winter Pal-
ace in the Forbidden City? Try and get to know
how long she expects to be before it is finished."
This gave me an opportunity to tell Her Maj-
esty that Miss Carl was just as anxious to get
the work finished as she was to have it finished,
but explained that Miss Carl had very little time
to paint as Her Majesty could spare very little
time to give personal sittings, and again, when
Her JIajesty went to lie down each afternoon.
Miss Carl had to stop painting as she was work-
ing in the next room to Her Majesty's bedroom.

284 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

Her Majesty replied: "Well, if she expects me
to sit for her all day long I will give up the
whole thing at once," and then added: "I think
you yourself are getting tired of sitting, and
want me to take it up again, but I have already
had quite enough of it." Of course, I told her
that instead of being tired of it, I enjoyed sitting
on Her Throne, which I regarded as a great
honor. I explained to Her Majesty that 3Iiss
Carl did not like me to pose in her place, as
she could not get along so quickly as if she were
to sit herself; bat she simply said that I was
acting under her commands, and that should be
sufficient for me.

For the next ten days we were kept very busy
selecting materials for winter clothing and also
official robes for my sister and myself to be worn
during the forthcoming birthday celebrations.
These dresses were fuU winter Court dresses, of
red satin embroidered with golden dragons and
blue clouds, and were trimmed with gold braid
and Uned with grey squirrel. The cuffs
and collars (which were turned down) were of
sable. While Her Majesty was giving one of
the eunuchs instructions as to how these were to
be made, the Young Empress beckoned to me,
and I went out. She said: "You go and kow-
tow to Her Majesty as it is a great favor for
her to give you a dress trimmed with sable. This

4
4

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL 885

is usually only worn by a Princess." So when I
returned to the room I availed myself of the first
opportunity to kowtow and thank Her Majesty
for the great favor she had granted me. She
answered: "You deserve it, and I see no reason
why you should not be treated as a Princess any-
way; many of the Princesses are not of the Im-
perial family. Any title may be bestowed for
special services rendered to the country and you
have been of more help to me than any other
Court lady I have ever had, and I can see that
you are faithful in the discharge of your duties.
You may think I do not notice tliese things, but
I do. You are certainly entitled to be ranked
as a Princess, and in fact I never treat you dif-
ferent from the Princesses, but rather better in
many ways." Turning to a eunuch she said:
"Bring my fur cap here." This cap was made
of sable, trimmed with pearls and jade and Her
Majesty explained that our caps would be some-
thing after the same style except that the crown,
instead of being yellow as in the case of Her
Majesty's cap, would be red. I was naturally
dehghted. In addition to the cap and full Court
dress Her Majesty had two ordinary dresses
made for everyday wear, one lined with sheep-
skin and the other lined with grey squirreL
Then she gave us four other dresses of finer ma-
terial* lined with black and white fox skin, and

886 TWO TEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CH

all trimmed with gold braid and embroidered
ribbons. In addition there were two other
dresses, one of a pale pink color, embroidered
with one hundred butterflies and the other of a
reddish color embroidered with green bamboo
leaves. Several short jackets, also lined with
fur, were also included in Her Majesty's pres-
ent, and several sleeveless jackets went to com-
plete the lot.

On coming out of the room, one of the Court
ladies remarked that I was very lucky to receive
so many clothes from Her Majesty and said that
she had never received so many during the whole
time she had been at the Palace — nearly ten
years. I could see she was jealous. The young
Empress, overhearing this conversation, joined
us and told her that when I arrived at the Palace
I had nothing but foreign clothes and how was I
to manage if Her Majesty did not get me the
proper dresses. This incident was the begin-
ning of another unpleasant time for me with the
ladies of the Court. At first I took no notice
until one day one of the girls attached to the Pal-
ace joined in the unkind remarks. She said that
before my arrival she had been Her Majesty's
particular favorite, but I gave her to understand
that she had no right to discuss me in any way
whatsoever. The Young Empress, who was
present, spoke to them about their treatment of

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL StSI

me and said that some fine day I would be telling
Her Majesty about it. This seemed to have a
good effect for they never troubled me much
afterwards with their talk.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE SUMMER PALACE

Just about the end of the ninth moon Her
Majesty began to tire of doing nothing day after
day, and said: "What is the use of waiting until
the first of the montli to have the theatrical per-
formance? Let us have a performance to-mor-
row." So she gave instructions for the eunuchs
to prepare for the play, which should be staged
without the assistance of any outside actors. I
might here mention that certain of the eunuchs
were specially trained as actors and used to study
their parts every day. Indeed, they were far
cleverer than the professionals from outside.

Her Majesty gave the head eunuch the list
of the plays she wished to be performed, which
were for the most part dramatised fairy tales, and
we had a performance the next day.

After Her Majesty had gone to rest in the
afternoon, during the theatrical performance I
met the Emperor returning to his own Palace.
I was surprised to see only one eunuch in attend-
ance. This was the Emperor's own private
eunuch and he trusted him implicitly. He asked
ass

THE SUMMER PALACE S89

me where 1 was going and I told him I was go-
ing to my room to rest a while. He remarked
that he had not seen rae for quite a long time,
which made me laugh as I saw him every morn-
ing at the audience. He said: "I don't get
as much chance of chatting with you as formerly
since this portrait painting began. I am afraid
I am not making much progi-ess with my Eng-
lish as I have nobody to help me now that your
time is occupied with this lady artist. You ap-
pear to enjoy her company very much. All the
same I suppose it is very monotonous. Has she
found out yet that you are there simply to keep
an eye upon her?" I told him that I was very
careful not to betray myself in any way and that
I did not think she suspected she was being
watched.

The Emperor then said: "I understand there
is a rumor to the effect that when this lady has
finished Her Majesty's portrait she is going to
paint mine. I should very much like to know
who says so." I told him this was the first I
had heard about it so could not say. I asked
him whether he would like to have his portrait
painted but he only answered: "That is rather a
difficult question for me to answer. You know
best whether I ought to have it painted or
not.

"I see Her Majesty liaving so many photo-

290 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYJ

graphs taken and even the eunuchs are in the
picture." I understood at once what he meant,
so I asked him if he wished me to take him
with my Httle kodak. He looked surprised and
asked: "Can you take pictures, too? If it is not
too risky for us, we might try it some day when
we have an opportunity. Don't forget, but I
think we must be very careful."

He then changed tlie conversation by saying:
"Well, now that we have time to talk I want to
ask you a question and I expect you to answer
me truly. What is the general opinion amongst
the foreigners regarding myself? Do they con-
sider me a man of character and do they think me
clever? I am very anxious to know." Before
I could say anything in answer to this question he
continued; "I know very well that they regard
me as nothing more than a boy, and as being of '
no consequence at all. Tell me, is not this so?"
I replied that many foreigners had asked me
about him — as to what kind of man he was, but
that they had never expressed any opinion of
their own regarding him excepting that they un-
derstood he was in the best of health. "If any
wrong impression does exist regarding myself
and my position at the Court," continued the
Emperor, "it is owing to the very conservative
customs of the Chinese Court. I am not ex-
pected to either say or do anything on my own

THE SUMMER PALACE 291

initiative, consequently outsiders never hear much
about me and I am regarded as being nothing
more than a figure-head. I know this is so.
Whenever they ask you about me in the future
just explain to them exactly what my position
here is. I have plenty of ideas regarding the
development of this country but you know I am
not able to carry them out as I am not my own
master. I don't think the Empress Dowager
herself has sufficient power to alter the state of
things existing in China at present, and even if
she has, she is not wiUing to. I am afraid it will
be a long time before anything can be done to-
wards reform."

The Emperor went on to say how nice it
would be if he were allowed to travel about from
place to place the same as the European mon-
archs, but of course such a thing was out of the
question for him. I told him that several Prin-
cesses had expressed a wish to visit the St. Louis
Exposition and said I thought it would be a good
thing if that could be arranged as they would
see for themselves the difference between their
own country and customs and foreign countries
and customs. The Emperor expressed doubts
as to this permission being granted as such a
thing had never been heard of before.

We talked for quite a long time, mostly about
foreign customs, and the Emperor remarked that

292 TWO YEARS IN' THE FORBIDDEN CIT

he would very much hke to visit Europe and sa
for himself how things were carried on there.

Just then one of my eunuchs came and said
that Her Majesty was awake, so I had to hurri
off to her room.

We now arrive at the tenth moon.

The first day it snowed, and the head eunuch '
enquired of Her Majesty whether it was her in-
tention to celebrate her birthday at the Summer
Palace as usual. As previously explained the
Summer Palace was Her Majesty's favorite
place of abode; so she rephed m the affirmative
and arrangements were accordingly made for the
celebration to be held there as usual. The head
eunuch then brought Her Majesty a list giving
the names and ranks of all the Princesses and the
names of the wives and daughters of the Manchu
officials, and she selected those whom she wished
to be present at the celebrations. On this occa-
sion she selected forty-five ladies, who were duly
informed that she desired their presence at the
Palace. I was standing behind Her Majesty's
chair all this time, and she turned and said : "Usu-
ally I do not ask many people to my birthday
celebrations, but on this occasion I have made an
exception as I want you to see the way they dress
and how ignorant they are of Court etiquette."

The celebrations commenced on the sixth day
of the tenth moon. Miss Carl, having i

ig retumed'^^H

THE SUMMER PALACE 293

to the American Legation in Peking for the time
being, my mother, my sister and myself went
back to the Palace again. Early on the morn-
ing of the sixth, the eunuchs decorated the
verandas with different colored silks and hung
lanterns all over the place and amongst the trees.
At about seven o'clock in the morning the visitors
began to arrive and I quite agreed vf'ith what
Her Majesty had told me about them. The
eunuchs introduced them to all the Court ladies,
but they seemed to have very little to say, ap-
pearing very shy. They were then conducted to
the waitingroom, but there were so many of
them that we Court ladies had to stand outside
on the veranda. Some of them were very ex-
pensively dressed, but their colors were, for the
most part, very old fashioned, and their manners
very awkward. We watched them for quite a
while and then went oflf to report to Her Maj-
esty.

On such occasions as this Her Majesty was
generally in pretty good spirits. She com-
menced asking us a lot of questions. Amongst
other things she asked whether we had noticed
an elderly lady among the visitors, dressed as
a bride. She explained that this lady was the
only Manchu lady present who was married to
a Chinese official, and had been invited because
of her previous connection with the Court. Her

S94 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CrrY|

Majesty said she had never seen her herself, but
understood that she was a very clever woman.
We had not noticed such a person, and suggested
that perhaps she had not yet arrived.

Her Majesty dressed very quickly, and as
soon as she was ready she came into the hall,
where the head eunuch brought in the visitors and
presented them to Her INIajesty. We Court
ladies were aU standing in a row behind the
Throne. As they came in, some kowtowed; oth-
ers courtesied, while others did not do anything
at all, in fact nobody appeared to know what
to do with herself. Her Majesty spoke a few
words of welcome and thanked them for the
presents they had sent her.

I would like to say here that, contrary to the
general idea which exists, Her Majesty always
expressed her thanks for any present or service
rendered, no matter how insignificant.

Her Majesty could see plainly that everybody
was embarrassed and ordered the head eunuch
to show them to their respective rooms, and told
them to make themselves at Iiome and to go and
take a rest. They hesitated a moment, not
knowing whether to go or not, until Her
Majesty said to us: "Take them and present
them to the Young Empress."

When we arrived at the Palace of the Young
Empress they were duly presented and were not

4
4

THE SUMMER PALACE 296

nearly so shy as before. The Young Empress
informed them that in case they desired to know
anything or to be put right on any point of
Court etiquette, the Court ladies would be
pleased to give them all necessary information
and she decided that the best way would be for
each Court lady to have charge of so many of
the visitors, as it would not be nice to have any
mistakes occur during the ceremony, on the
tenth. So we each were allotted so many guests
and had to look after them and instruct them how
to act on the diflFerent occasions.

During Her Majesty's afternoon rest I paid
a visit to the guests I was to take charge of.
Among them was the bride referred to by Her
Majesty. So I went and made myself agree-
able to her and found her very interesting.
She had evidently received a good education, un-
like the majority of Manchu ladies, as I found
she could read and write Chinese exception-
ally well. I then explained to all of them what
they would have to do, and how to address
Her Majesty, should it be necessary to do so.
I don't know whether I have mentioned it pre-
viously, but whenever anybody spoke to Her
Majesty, they always addressed her as "Great
Ancestor," and when referring to themselves,
instead of the pronoun "I," they would say
"Your slave," In aU Manchu families a sim-

296 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

ilar rule is observed, the pronouns "You" and ]
"I" being dispensed with and the titles "Mother" I
and "Father" and the son's or daughter's first
name being substituted.

Her Majesty was very particular about this j
rule being strictly observed.

For the next four days, until the day of the j
ceremony, these visitors passed their time in '
learning the Court etiquette and going to the
theatre.

Every morning, as usual, we waited on Her
Majesty and reported anything of interest which
had occurred during the previous day. Then
we all preceded Her Majesty to the theatre,
where we awaited her arrival standing in the
courtyard. On Her Majesty appearing, we
would all kneel down until she had passed into
the building opposite the stage, kneeling in rows
— first the Emperor, behind him the Young
Princess, next the Secondary wife, then the
Princesses and Court ladies, and last of all the
visitors. The first two days everything went off
all right, but on the third morning the Emperor,
from whom we received the signal, suddenly
turned and said: "Her Majesty is coming."
Down we all went on our knees, the Emperor
alone remaining standing and laughing at us.
Of course there was no sign of Her Majesty and
everybody joined in the laugh. He was never

THE SUMMER PALACE

297

so happy as when he could work off a joke like
this.

On the evening of the ninth, none of the Court
ladies went to bed, as we all had to be up betimes
on the morning of the tenth. The visitors were
told to proceed by chair to Her Majesty's spe-
cial Audience Hall on the top of the hill, where
they were to await our arrival. They arrived at
the Audience Hall at three o'clock in the morn-
ing, and we followed soon afterwards, arriving
there about daybreak. By and bye Her Majesty
arrived and the ceremony commenced. This
ceremony in no way differed from the one pre-
viously described in connection with the Em-
peror's birthday, so there is no need to give par-
ticulars, except one thing. Very early on the
morning of the tenth, we had to bring another
present to her and each of us brought a hun-
dred birds of various kinds. Each year, on her
birthday. Her Majesty did a very peculiar
thing. She would buy 10,000 birds with her
own money, from her private purse and set them
free. It was a very pretty sight to see those
huge cages hung in the courtyard of the Au-
dience Hall. Her Majesty would select the
most lucky hour and order the eunuchs to carry
the cages and to follow her. The hour selected
was four o'clock in the afternoon. Her Maj-
esty took the whole Court with her to the top

B esty took the

5898 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

of the hill, where there was a Temple. First
she burnt sandal wood and offered up prayers to
the Gods, then the eunuchs, each with a cage of
birds, knelt in front of Her Majesty and she
opened each cage one after another and watched
the birds fly away, and prayed to the Gods that
these birds should not be caught again. Her
Slajesty did this very seriously and we asked
each other in whispers which bird we thought
was the prettiest and would like to keep it for
ourselves. Among this lot there were a few par-
rots. Some were pink ; others were red and
green ; all were chained on stands, and when the
eiuiuchs broke the chains, the parrots would not
move. Her Majesty said: "How funny; each
year a few parrots will not go away at all and
I have kept them until they died. Look at them
now. They won't go away." By this time the
head eunuch arrived. Her Majesty told him
what had happened and he immediately knelt
down and said: "Your Slajesty's great luck.
These parrots understand Your Majesty's kind-
ness and would rather stay here and serve Your
Majesty." This ceremony is called "Fang
Sheng." It is considered a very meritorious ac-
tion and will not fail of reward in Heaven.

One of the Court ladies asked me what I
thought of the parrots that would not fly away,
and I told her that it was reaUy very strange.

THE SUMMER PALACE 899

She said: *'It is very simple and not strange at
all. These eunuchs, ordered by the head one,
have bought these parrots long ago and trained
them. During Her Majesty's afternoon rest,
these parrots were brought to the top of the
very same hill every day to accustom them to the
place. The object of this is just to please and
otherwise fool Her Majesty, to make her feel
happy and believe that she is so merciful that
even such dumb things would rather stay with
her." Continuing, she said: "The huge joke is
this: while Her Majesty is letting the birds free,
there are a few eunuchs waiting at the rear of the
hill to capture them and sell them again, and so,
no matter how Her Majesty prays for their free-
dom, they will he caught at once."

The celebrations were continued until the thir-
teenth day. Nobody did any work and all was
gaiety and enjoyment, the theatre being open
every day. Towards the close of the thirteenth
day the visitors were informed that tiie celebra-
tions were at an end and they made arrange-
ments to leave early the next morning. They
all bade Her Majesty good-bye that evening and
departed early the following day.

For the next few days we were all busy pre-
paring for removing to the Sea Palace. Her
Majesty consulted her book and finally selected
the 22d as being the most favorable day for this

$00 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY|

removal. So at six o'clock on the morning of
the 22d the whole Court left the Summer Palace.
It was snowing very heavily and the journey was
only accomplished with great difficulty. Of
course we were all in chairs, as usual, and the
eunuchs who were not employed as chair-bearers
rode horseback. Many of the horses fell on the
slippery stones and one of Her Majesty's chair- .
bearers also slipped and brought Her Majestyl
to the ground. All of a sudden I thought some- ^
thing dreadful had happened, horses galloping
and eunuchs howUng: "Stop! Stop!!" I heard
someone saying: "See if she is still alive." The .
whole procession stopped and blocked the way. j
This happened on the stone road just before
entering the Western Gate. Finally we saw
that Her Majesty's chair was resting on the
ground, so we all alighted and went forward to
see what had happened. A great many people |
were talking excitedly all at the same time, and I
for a moment I was rather frightened (for just j
about that time we heard a rumor that some of j
the revolutionists were going to take the life of I
the whole Court, and, although we heard that, I
we did not dare tell Her Majesty), so I imme- I
diately went to her chair and found her sitting
there composedly giving orders to the chief
eunuch not to punish this chair-bearer, for he was
not to blame, the stones being wet and very slip-

EmpiTor's Coffin carried by " 60() " Pole-beE

Umbrella Curriers in Ibe Funernl

THE SUMMER PALACE

pery. Li Lien Ying said that would never do,
for this chair-bearer must have been careless, and
how dare he carry the Old Buddha in this careless
way. After saying this, he turned his head to
the beaters { these beaters, carrying bamboo
sticks, went everywhere with the Court, for such
occasions as this) and said: "Give him eighty
blows on his back." This poor victim, who was
kneeling on the muddy ground, heard the order.
The beaters took him about a hundred yards
away from us, pushed him down and started to
do their duty. It did not take very long to give
the eighty blows and, much to my surprise, this
man got up, after receiving the punishment, as
if nothing had happened to him. He looked just
as calm as could be. While we were waiting a
eunuch handed me a cup of tea, which I pre-
sented to Her Majesty, and asked her if she was
hurt. She smiled and said it was nothing, or-
dering us to proceed on our journey. I must
explain about this tea; the eunuchs had it pre-
pared all the time and always carried a little
stove along with hot water. Although this went
every time when the Court moved, it was seldom
used.

As usual, all the Court ladies take a short cut
to the Palace, so as to be ready to receive Her
Majesty, when she arrived. After waiting in
the courtyard for quite a long time, during which

son TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY|

we were nearly frozen, Her Majesty arrived, and
we all knelt until she had passed, and then fol-
lowed her into the Palace. Her Majesty also
complained of the cold and ordered that fires
should be hrought into the hall. These fires
were built in brass portable stoves lined with clay,
and were lighted outside and brought into the
hall after tlie smoke had passed off somewhat.
There were four stoves in all. All the windows
and doors were closed, there being no ventilation
of any description, and very soon I began to
feel sick. However, I went on with my work
getting Her Slajesty's things in order until I
must have fainted, for the next thing I remem-
bered was waking up in a strange bed and inquir-
ing where I was, but on hearing Her Majesty
^ving orders in the next room, I knew it was
all right. One of the Court ladies brought me
a cup of turnip juice which Her Majesty said
I was to drink. I drank it and felt much better.
I was informed that Her Majesty had gone to
rest, and so 1 went off to sleep again myself.
When I awoke, Her Majesty was standing by
my bedside. I tried to get up, but found that I
was too weak, so Her Majesty told me to lie still
and keep quiet and I would soon be all right
again. She said that I had better have a room
close to her bedroom, and gave instructions for
the ennuchs to remove me there as soon as it was

THE SUMMER PALACE 303

prepared. Every few minutes Her Majesty
would send to inquire how I was progressing and
whether I wanted anything to eat. It was the
custom to stand up whenever receiving a message
from Her Majesty, but it was out of the ques-
tion for me to do so, although I tried, with the
result that I made myself worse than ever.

Towards evening the head eunuch came to see
me and brought several plates of sweetmeats.
He was very nice, and told me that I was very
fortunate, as Her Majesty very rarely bothered
herself about any of the Court ladies and that
evidently she had taken a fancy to me. He sat
talking for some little time, and told me to eat
some of the sweetmeats. Of course I was not
able to eat anything at all, let alone sweetmeats,
so I told him to leave them and I would eat
them later. Before leaving he said that in case
I wanted anything I was to let him know. This
visit was a great surprise to me, as usually he
took very Uttle notice of any of us, but I was
told afterwards that the reason he was so nice
was because Her Majesty showed such an inter-
est in me.

The next morning I was able to get up and
resume my duties. I went in to see Her Majesty
and kowtowed to her, thanking her for her kind-
ness during my indisposition. Her Majesty said
L that the head eunuch had told her the previous

304 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

evening that I was much better and that she wi
glad I was up and about again. She said it wi
nothing serious, simply that I was unaceustomi
to the fumes from the fires, which had gone
my head.

As the snow had stopped falling, Her Majesty
decided that the next day we would go and
choose a place for Miss Carl to continue the
painting. I suggested that perhaps it would be
better if we waited until Miss Carl arrived her-
self, so that she could choose a suitable place for
her work, but Her Majesty said that would not
do at all, because if it were left to Miss Carl,
doubtless she would choose some impossi
place. Of course there were many parts of
Palace which were kept quite private and Miss
Carl would not be allowed to go there. So
the next day Her Majesty and myself set out
to find a place. After visiting many different
rooms, all of which were too dark, we finally
fixed on a room on the lake side of the Palace.
Her Majesty said: "This is very convenient, as
you can go to and fro either by chair or by water.
I found that it took about three-quarters of
an hour by chair to get to the Palace Gate, and
rather less than that by boat. I was expecting
to return to stay at the Palace with Her Majesty,
but it was finally decided that this would not do,
as it would not be policy to allow

arU ^^
iblt^H
th^^H
liss ^\

THE SUMMER PALACE 306

who was staying at the American Legation, to
go in and out of the Palace Gate alone, so Her
Majesty said it would be better for nie to stay
at my father's place in the city and bring Miss
Carl to the Palace each morning, returning with
her in the evening. This was anything but
pleasant, but I had no other alternative than to
obey Her Majesty's instructions.

When Miss Carl arrived at the Palace the
next day and saw the room which had been
selected for her to work in, she was not at all
pleased. In the first place she said it was too
dark, so Her Majesty ordered the paper win-
dows to be replaced by glass. This made the
room too bright, and Sliss Carl asked for some
curtains so as to focus the light on the picture.
When I informed Her Majesty of this request,
she said: "Well, this is the first time I have ever
changed anything in the Palace except to suit
myself. First I alter the windows, and she is
not satisfied, but must have curtains. I tliink
we had better take the roof off, then perhaps
she may be suited." However, we fixed up the
curtains to INIiss Carl's satisfaction.

When Her Majesty examined tlie portrait to
see how it was progressing, she said to me:
"After all the trouble we have had over this pic-
ture, I am afraid it is not going to be anj-tbing
very wonderful. I notice that the pearls in my

306 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

cape are painted in different colors; some 1(
white, some pink, while others are green. Y
tell her about it." I tried to explain to Hct
Majesty that Miss Carl had simply painted the
pearls as she saw them, according to the different
shades of light, but Her Majesty could not
understand that at all and asked if I could see
anything green about them, or pink either. I
again explained that this was simply the tints
caused by the light falling on the pearls, but she
replied that she could not see any shade except
white. However, after a while she did not seem
to trouble any further about the matter.

Situated in a room near Her Majesty's bed-
room in the Sea Palace was a Pagoda, about ten
feet in height, made of carved sandalwood. This
contained various images of Buddha, which Her
Majesty used to worship every morning. The
ceremony consisted of Her Majesty burning
incense before the Pagoda, while a Court lady
was told off each day to kowtow before the
images. Her Majesty told me that this Pagoda
had been in the Palace for more than a hundred
years. Among the different images was one
representing the Goddess of Mercy. This im-
age was only about five inches in height and was
made of pure gold. The inside was hollow and
contained all the principal anatomical parts of
the human body, made out of jade and pearlik,

THE SUMMER PALACE

807

This Goddess of Mercy was supposed to possess
wonderful powers and Her Majesty often wor-
shiped before it when in any trouble, and main-
tained that on many occasions her prayers had
been answered. She said: "Of course, when I
pray to the image, I pray earnestly, not the same
as you girls, who simply kowtow because it is
your duty and then get away as quickly as pos-
sible." Her Slajesty went on to say that she
was quite aware that many of the people in
China were discarding the religion of their
ancestors in favor of Christianity, and that she
was very much grieved that this was so.

Her Majesty was a firm believer in the old
Chinese superstitions connected with the Sea
Palace, and during one of our conversations she
told me I was not to be surprised at anything I
saw. She said it was quite a common occurrence
for a person walking beside you to suddenly dis-
appear altogether, and explained that they were
simply foxes who took human shape to suit their
purpose. They had probably Uved in the Sea
Palace for thousands of years and possessed this
power of changing their form at will. She said
that no doubt the eunuchs would tell me they
were spirits or ghosts, hut that was not true: they
were sacred foxes and would harm nobody. As
if to confirm this superstition, one evening, a few
days later, my fire having gone out, I sent my

908 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYl

eunuch to see if any of the other Court ladies
were awake, and if so, to try to get me some hot
water. He went out taking his lantern along
with him, hut he returned aknost immediately
with a face as white as chalk. On inquiring
what was the matter, he replied: "I have seen a J
ghost : a woman, who came up to me, blew the I
light out and disappeared." I told liim that per-
haps it was one of the servant girls, but he said
"No"; he knew all tlie women attached to the
Palace and he had never seen this one before.
He stuck to it that it was a ghost. I told him
that Her Majesty had said there were no ghosts,
but that it might be a fox wliich had taken human
shape. He replied: "It was not a fox. Her
Majesty calls them foxes, because she is afraid
to call them ghosts." He went on to tell me that
many years previously the head eunuch, Li Lien
Ying, while walking in the courtyard back of
Her Majesty's Palace, saw a young servant girl
sitting on the edge of the well. He went over
to ask her what she was doing there, but on get-
ting closer he found that there were several other
girls there also, and on seeing him approach, they I
all deliberately jumped down the well. He
immediately raised the alarm, and on one of the
attendants coming forward with a lantern, he 1
explained what had occurred. The attendant J
showed him that it was impossible for anybody J

THE SUMMER PALACE 309

to jump into the well, as it was covered with a
large stone. My eunuch said that a long time
before this several girls did actuallj' commit sui-
cide by jumping down this well, and that what
Li Lien Ying had seen were the ghosts of these
girls, and nothing more. It is believed by the
Chinese that when a person commits suicide
their spirit remains in the neighborhood until
such time as they can entice somebody else to
commit suicide, when they are free to go to
another world, and not before. I told him that
I did not believe such things and that I would
very much hke to see for myself. He replied:
"You will only want to see it once; that will be
sufficient."

Things went along in the usual way until the
first day of the eleventh moon, when Her
Majesty issued orders to the Court that as the
eleventh moon contained so many anniversaries
of the deaths of previous rulers of China, the
usual theatrical performance would be eliminated
and the Court dress would in addition be modi-
fied to suit the occasion. On the ninth day the
Emperor was to go and worship at the Temple
of Heaven. So, as was customary on all these
occasions, he confined himself to his own private
apartments for three days before the ninth, dur-
ing which time he held no communication whatso-
ever with anybody excepting his private eunuchs.

SIO TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY|

Not even the Young Empress, his wife, waa
allowed to see him during these three days.

This ceremony did not differ very materiallyj
from the other sacrifices, except that pigs wt
kiUed and placed on the numerous altars of the^
Temple, where they remained for a time, after
which they were distributed among the different
officials. The eating of the flesh of these pigs,
which had been blessed, was believed to bring
good luck and prosperity, and the officials who
were presented with them considered themselves
greatly favored by Her Majesty. Another dif-
ference was that the Kmperor could not appoint
a substitute to officiate for him ; but must attend
in person, no matter what the circumstances
might be. The reason for this was, that accord-
ing to the ancient law, the Emperor signs the
death warrant of every person sentenced to
death, record of which is kept in the Board of
Punishments. At the end of the year the name
of each person executed is written on a piece of
yellow paper and sent to the Emperor. When
the time for worshiping at the Temple arrives,
he takes this yellow paper and burns it in order
that the ashes may go up to Heaven and his an-
cestors know that he has been fearless and faith-
ful, and has done his duty according to the law.

As this ceremony of worshiping at the Tem-
ple of Heaven was to take place in the For-

THE SUMMER PALACE 311

bidden City, in spite of Her Majesty's dislike
to the place, she commanded that the whole of
the Court be transferred there, her reason for
this being that she did not wish to be away
from the Emperor's side even for an hour. So
we all moved to the Palace in the Forbidden
City. After the ceremony was over, the Court
was to return to the Sea Palace, but as the thir-
teenth day was the anniversary of the death of
the Emperor Kang Hsi, it was decided that we
should remain in the Forbidden City, where the
ceremony was to be held. The Emperor Kang
Hsi ruled over the Chinese Empire for sixty-one
years, the longest reign of any Chinese Ruler
up to the present time, and Her Majesty told
us that he was the most wonderful Emperor
China had ever had and that we must respect
his memory accordingly.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THE AUDIENCE HALL

Ox the fourteenth day of the eleventh moon,
after the morning audience, Her Majesty
informed us that there was a likelihood of war
breaking out between Russia and Japan and
that she was very much troubled, as although it
actually had nothing whatever to do with China,
she was afraid they would fight on Chinese terri-
tory and that in the long run China would suffer
in some way or other. Of course we did not
bother oiu-selves about it much at the moment,
but the next morning -the head eunuch reported
to Her Majesty that fifty eunuchs were missing.
As there was no apparent reason for this, every-
body was much excited. There was no rule
against any of the eimuchs going into the city
after their duties were ended, providing they
returned before the Palace Gate was closed, but
when on the following morning it was reported
that another hundred eunuclis had also disap-
peared, Her Majesty at once said: "I know now
what the trouble is; they must have heard what
I said about this war coming on and are afraid
312

THE AUDIENCE HALL 313

there may be a repetition of the Boxer trouble,
and so they have cleared out." It was the cus-
tom whenever a eunuch was missing to send
out search parties and have him brought hack
and punished, but in the present instance Her
Majesty gave instructions that nothing was to
be done about recapturing them. One morn-
ing, however, one of Her Majesty's personal
attendants was missing, which made her furious.
She said that she had been very kind to this
particular eunuch in many ways, and this was
all the thanks she got; he ran away at the first
sign of trouble. I myself had noticed how good
she had been to this eunuch, but I was not really
sorry that he had left, as he used to take ad-
vantage of every opportunity of getting some of
the Court ladies into trouble.

These disappearances continued from day to
day until Her Majesty decided that it would
be safer for us to remain in the Forbidden City
until the following spring at any rate.

On inquiring from my eunuch the cause of
these disappearances, he said that it was just as
Her Majesty suspected; they were afraid of get-
ting mixed up in another such affair as the Boxer
trouble, and added that he was not a bit sur-
prised at Her Majesty's favorite eunuch going
along with the rest. He further told me that
even Li Lien Ying himself was not to be abso-

814 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

lutely relied upon, as at the time of
Majesty's leaving Peking for Shi An during the
Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness, and
followed a little later, so tliat in the event of
anything happening, he would be able to return
and make his escape. AVhile talking about Li
Lien Ying, my eunuch told me in confidence that
he was responsible for the death of many inno-
cent people, mostly eunuchs. He had unlimited
power at the Court, and it was very easy for him
to get anybody put away who offended him or
to whom, for some reason or another, he took a
dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed me
that, although not generally known, Li Lien
Ying was addicted to opium-smoking, which
habit he indulged in very freely. Even Her
Majesty was unaware of this, as opium-smoking
was strictly forbidden in the Palace.

Each morning there was fresh news regarding
the trouble between Russia and Japan, and of
course everybody gradually became very much
excited at the Palace. One day Her Majesty
summoned the whole of the Court to a special
audience and there informed us that there was
no need for us to get excited at all; that if any
trouble did occur, it was none of our business
and we should not be interfered with, as the
spirits of our ancestors were watching over us,
and she did not want to hear any more talk

THE AUDIENCE HALL 315

and gossip on the subject. However, she sum-
moned all of the Court ladies to her apartment
and there commanded us to pray to the spirits
of our ancestors to protect us, which plainly
^owed that she was just as much worried as
we were ourselves. In spite of wliat she had
said with reference to gossipping about this
trouble, Her Majesty often spoke about it her-
self, and during one of our conversations she said
she wished she could get information each day
as to what was actually occurring, so I suggested
that it would be very easy to get all the lat-
est news by taking the foreign papers and also
Reuter's specials. Her Majesty jumped at the
suggestion and told nie to have these sent each
day to my father's house in his name, and have
them brought to the Palace, where I could trans-
late them for her. I told her that my father
received all these papers as they were published,
so I arranged that they should be brought along
as directed by Her Majesty. Each morning dur-
ing the audience I translated into Chinese all the
war news, but the telegrams began to arrive so
rapidly that it soon became quite impossible for
me to write them all out in Chinese, so I told
Her Majesty that I would read and translate
them into Chinese as they arrived. This was
much quicker and interested Her Majesty so
much that she insisted on my not only translating

316 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY|

the war news, but everything else of interest in
the papers. Kspecially was she interested in all
news appertaining to the movements, etc., of the
crowned heads of Europe, and was very plainly
astonished when she learned that their every
movement was known. She said : "Here, at any
rate, it is more private, for nobody outside the
Palace ever knows what is going on inside, not
even my own people. It would be a good thing
if they did know a little more, then perhaps all
these rumors about the Palace would stop."

Of course, during our stay in the Forbidden
City, Miss Carl attended each morning to work
on the portrait. We had given her a nice room,
which seemed to suit her very well, and Her
Majesty had instructed me to let her have every
convenience possible to assist her, as she was
getting tired of the business and would like to
see it finished quickly. Her Majesty hardly
ever went near the place herself, but when she
did go, she would be most affable and, really, one
would think that it was the greatest pleasure
of her life to go and inspect the portrait.

Things went very slowly during this eleventh
moon on account of the Court being in mourn-
ing, so one day Her Majesty suggested that
she should show us round the Forbidden City.
First we proceeded to the Audience Hall. This
differs somewhat from the Audience Hall of the

4
4

THE AUDIENCE HALL

317

Summer Palace. To enter, one must mount
some twenty odd steps of white marble, with
rails on either side of the steps made of the same
material. At the top of the steps a large
veranda, supported by huge pillars of wood,
painted red, surrounded the building. The win-
dows along this verandah were of marvellously
carved trellis-work, designed to represent the
character "Shou" arranged in different positions.
Then we entered the hall itself. The floor is of
brick, and Her Majesty told us that all these
bricks were of solid gold and had been there for
centuries. They were of a peculiar black color,
doubtless painted over, and were so slippery that
it was most difficult to keep on one's feet. The
furnishing was similar to that in the Audience
Halls in the Sunmier Palace and in the Sea Pal-
ace, with the exception that the throne was made
of dark brown wood inlaid with jade of different
colors.

The Hall was only used for audience on very
rare occasions, such as the birthday of the
Empress Dowager and New Year's Day, and no
foreigner has ever entered this building. All the
usual audiences were held in a smaller building
in the Forbidden City.

After spending some little time in the Audi-
ence Hall, we next visited the Emperor's quar-
ters. These were much smaller than those

818 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN

occupied by Her Majesty, but were very
orately furnished. There were thirty-two rooms,
many of which were never used, but all were fur-
nished in the same expensive style. In the rear
of this building was the Palace of the Young
Empress, which was smaller stiU, having about
twenty-four rooms in all, and in the same build-
ing three rooms were set apart for the use of the
Secondary wife of the Emperor. Although
close together, the Palaces of the Emperor and
his wife were not comiected by any entrance, but
both buildings were surrounded by verandas
connecting with Her Majesty's apartments,
which were quite a distance away. There were
several other buildings, which were used as wait-
ingrooms for visitors. In addition to the above,
there were several buildings which were not used
at all; these were sealed and nobody seemed tol
know what they contained, or whether they con-
tained anj-thing at all. Even Her Majesty said
she had never been inside these buildings, as tH^
had been sealed for many years. Even th
entrance to the enclosure containing these buil
ings was always closed, and this was the onljl
occasion that any of us ever even passed throug
They were quite different in appearance froni^
any other buildings in the Palace, being very dirty
and evidently of great age. We were com-
manded not to talk about the place at alL

THE AUDIENCE HALL 319

The apartments of the Court ladies were con-
nected with those of Her Majesty, but the rooms
were so small one could hardly turn round in
them; also they were very cold in winter. The
servants' quarters were at the end of our apart-
ments, hut there was no entrance and they could
only be reached by passing along our veranda,
while the only entrance we ourselves had to our
rooms was by passing along Her Majesty's ver-
anda. This was Her Majesty's own idea, in or-
der that she could keep an eye on all of us and
could see when we either went out or came in.

Her Majesty now conducted us to her own
Palace, and pausing a little said: "I will now
show you something which will be quite new to
you." We entered a room adjoining her bed-
room, which was connected by a narrow passage
some fifteen feet in length. On either side the
walls were painted and decorated very beauti-
fully. Her Majesty spoke to one of the eunuch
attendants, who stooped down and removed from
the ground at each end of this passage two
wooden plugs which were fitted into holes in the
basement. I then began to realize that what I
had hitherto regarded as solid walls were in real-
ity sliding panels of wood. These panels when
opened revealed a kind of grotto. There were
no windows, but in the roof was a skylight. At
one end of this room or grotto was a large rock.

320 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

on the top of which was a seat with a yellow
cushion, and beside the cushion an incense
burner. Everything had the appearance of
being very old. The room contained no furni-
ture of any description. One end of this room
led into another passage similar to the one
already described, having sliding panels, which
led into another grotto, and so on; in fact the
whole of the palace walls were intersected by
these secret passages, each concealing an inner
room. Her Majesty told us that during the
Ming dynasty these rooms had been used for
various purposes, principally by the Emperor
when he wished to be alone. One of these secret
rooms was used by Her Majesty as a treasure
room where she kept her valuables. During the
time of the Boxer trouble, she hid all her val-
uables here before she fled. When she returned
and opened this secret room she found every-
thing intact, not one of the vandals who ran-
sacked the Palace even suspecting there was such
a place.

We returned to our veranda, and on looking
around for the rooms we had just vacated, could
see nothing excepting black stone walls, so well
were they hidden. One of the principal reasons
for Her Majesty's dislike to the Forbidden City
was the mysteries which it contained, many of
which she did not know of herself. She said;

THE AUDIENCE HALL 3«1

"I don't even talk about these places at all, as
people might think that they were used for all
kinds of purposes."

While at the Palace in the Forbidden City I
met the three Secondary wives of the previous
Emperor Tung Chi, son of the Empress Dow-
ager, who, since the death of the Emperor, had
resided in the Forbidden City and spent their
time in doing needlework, etc., for Her Majesty.
When I got to know them I found that they
were highly educated, one of them, Yu Fai, being
exceptionally clever. She could write poetry
and play many musical instruments, and was
considered to be the best educated lady in the
Empire of China. Her knowledge of western
countries and their customs surprised me very
much; she seemed to know a little bit of every-
thing. I asked how it was that I had never
seen them before, and was informed that they
never visited Her Majesty unless commanded by
her to do so, but that when Her Majesty stayed
in the Forbidden City, of course they had to call
and pay their respects each day. One day I
received an invitation to visit them in their Pal-
ace. This was separated from all the other
buildings in the city. It was rather a small
building, and very simply furnished, with just a
few eunuchs and servant girls to wait upon them.
They said they preferred this simple Ufe, as they

332 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CE

never received any visitors and had nobody to
please but themselves. Yu Fai's room was lit-
erally packed with literature of all descriptions.
She showed me several poems which she had
written, but they were of a melancholy character,
plainly showing the trend of her thoughts. She
was in favor of establishing schools for the edu-
cation of young girls, as only very few could
even read or write their own language, and she
suggested that I should speak to Her Majesty
about it at the first opportunity. In spite of her
desire to see western reforms introduced into
China, however, she was not in favor of employ-
ing missionary teachers, as these people always
taught tlieir religion at the expense of other sub-
jects, which she feared would set the Chinese
against the movement.

Toward the end of the eleventh moon Her
Majesty granted an audience to the Viceroy of
Chihli, Yuan Shih Kai, and as this particular day
was a holiday and Miss Carl was absent, I was
able to attend. Her Majesty asked him for his
opinion of the trouble between Russia and Japan.
He said that although these two countries might
make war against each other, China would not
be implicated in any way, but that after the
war was over, there was sure to be trouble
over Manchuria. Her Majesty said she was
quite aware of that, as they were fighting on

THE AUDIENCE HALL

Chinese territory, and that the best thing for
China to do would be to keep absolutely neutral
in the matter, as she had quite enough of war
during the China-Japan war. She said it would
he best to issue orders to all the officials to see
that the Chinese did not interfere in any way,
so as not to give any excuse for being brought
into the trouble.

She then asked his opinion as to what would
be the result in the event of war — who would
win. He said that it was very hard to say, but
that he thought Japan would win. Her Majesty
thought that if Japan were victorious, she would
not have so much trouble over the matter,
although she expressed doubts as to the outcome,
saying that Russia was a large country and had
many soldiers, and that the result was far from
certain.

Her Majesty then spoke about the condition
of things in China. She said that in case China
were forced into war with another nation, we
should be nowhere. We had notliing ready, no
navy and no trained army, in fact nothing to
enable us to protect ourselves. Yuan Shih Kai,
however, assured her there was no need to antici-
pate any trouble at present so far as China was
concerned. Her Majesty repUed that in any
event it was time China began to wake up and
endeavor to straigliten things out in some way

324 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY I

or other, but she did not know where to begin;
that it was her ambition to see China holding a
prominent position among the nations of the
world and that she was constantly receiving
memorials suggesting this reform and that
reform, but that we never seemed to get any
further.

After this audience was over, Her Majesty
held an audience with the Grand Council. She
told them what had been said during her inter-
view with Yuan Shih Kai, and of course they all
agreed that something should be done. Several
suggestions were discussed with regard to na-
tional defense, etc., but a certain Prince said
that although he was in perfect sympathy with
reform generally, he was very much against the
adoption of foreign clothing, foreign modes of
living, and the doing away with the queue. Her
Majesty quite agreed with these remarks and
said that it would not be wise to change any
Chinese custom for one which was less civilized.
As usual, nothing definite was decided upon
when the audience was over.

For the next few days nothing was talked of
but the war, and many Chinese generals were
received in audience by Her Majesty. These
audiences were sometimes very amusing, as these
soldiers were quite unaccustomed to the rules of
the Court and did not know the mode of pro-

THE AUDIENCE HALL 325

cedure when in the presence of Her Majesty.
Many foolish suggestions were made by these
generals. During one of the conversations Her
Majesty remarked on the ineflSciency of the
navy and referred to the fact that we had no
trained naval officers. One of the generals
rephed tliat we had more men in China than in
any other countr>', and as for ships, why we had
dozens of river boats and China merchant boats,
which could be used in case of war. Her
Majesty ordered him to retire, saying that it was
perfectly true that we had plenty of men in
China, but that the majority of them were like
himself, of very little use to the country. After
he had retired, everybody commenced to laugh,
but Her Majesty stopped us, saying that she did
not feel at all like laughing, she was too angry
to think that such men held positions as officers
in the army and navy. One of the Court ladies
asked me why Her Majesty was so angry with
the man for mentioning the river boats, and was
very much surprised when I informed her that
the whole of tlieni would be worse than useless
against a single war vessel.

Just about the end of the eleventh moon
Chang Chih Tung, Viceroy of Wuchang,
arrived, and was received in audience. Her
Majesty said to him: "Now, you are one of the
oldest officials in the country, and I want you

326 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY \

to give me your unbiased oiiinion as to what
effect this war is going to have on China. Do
not be afraid to give your firm opinion, as I want
to be prepared for anything which is likely to
happen." He answered that no matter what the
result of the war might be, China would in all
probability have to make certain concessions to
the Powers with regard to ilanchuria for trade
purposes, but that we should not othermse be
interfered with. Her Majesty repeated what
had been discussed at the previous audiences on
this subject and also regarding reform in China.
Chang Chih Tung replied that we had plenty
of time for reform, and that if we were in too
great a hurry, we should not accomplish any-
thing at all. He suggested that the matter be
discussed at length before deciding upon any-
thing definite. In his opinion it would be fool-
ish to go to extremes in the matter of reform.
He said that ten or fifteen years ago he would
have been very much against any reform what-
soever, but that he now saw the need for it to
a certain extent, as circumstances had changed
very much. He said that we should adhere
strictly to our own mode of living and not aban-
don the traditions of our ancestors. In other
words, he simply advised the adoption of western
civilization where it was an improvement on our
own, and nothing more. Her Majesty was

THE AUDIENCE HALL

327

delighted with the interview, for Chang Chih
Tung's opinions coincided exactly with her own.

During the whole of these audiences the
Emperor, although present each time, never
opened his lips to say a word, but sat listening
all the time. As a rule, Her Majesty would ask
his opinion, just as a matter of form, hut he
invariably repUed that he was quite in accord
with what Her Majesty had said or decided upon.

Of the many religious ceremonies in connec-
tion with the Buddhist religion the "La-pa-
chow" was the most important. This was held
on the 8th day of the twelfth moon each year.
According to the common belief, on tliis eighth
day of the twelfth moon, many centuries ago,
a certain Buddhist priest Ju Lai set out to beg
for food, and after receiving a good supply of
rice and beans from the people, he returned and
divided it with his brother priests, giving each
an equal share, and he became celebrated for his
great charity. This day was therefore set apart
as an anniversary to commemorate the event.
The idea was that by practising self-denial on
this day, one would gain favor in the sight of
this Buddha Ju Lai, therefore the only food
eaten was rice, grain and beans, all mixed to-
gether in a sort of porridge, but without any salt
or other flavoring. It was not at all pleasant
to eat, being absolutely tasteless.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS

We now reached the time set apart for clei
ing the Palace in preparation for the New Year
festivals. Everj'thing had to he taken down and
thoroughly overhauled, and all the images, pic-
tures, furniture and everything else were sub-
jected to a thorough scrubbing. Her Majesty
again consulted her book in order to choose a
lucky day on which to commence these opera-
tions, finally choosing the twelfth day as being
most favorable. As we had all received our
orders previously, we commenced early on the
morning of the twelfth. Several of the Court
ladies were told off to take down and clean the
images of Buddha and prepare new curtains for
them. The rest of the cleaning was done by the
eunuchs. I asked Her Majesty whether I was
to clean her jewelry, but she answered that as
nobody but herself ever wore it, it didn't need
cleaning.

After everything had been cleaned to Her
Majesty's satisfaction, she prepared a list of
names of the people she desired to attend i

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 329

ceremony of Tzu Sui. This ceremony was held
on the last day of each year and was something
like the midnight services usually held in Eu-
rope on the last night of each old year — just a
farewell ceremony to bid the old year adieu.
The guests were invited about a fortnight ahead,
so as to give them plenty of time to get ready.
Her Majesty also ordered new winter clothing
for the Court ladies. The only difference
between these new garments and those we were
then wearing was that they were trimmed with
the fur of the silver fox instead of the gray
squirrel.

The next thing was to prepare cakes, which
were to be placed before the Buddhas and ances-
tors, during the New Year. It was necessary
that Her Majesty should make the first one her-
self. So when Her Majesty decided that it was
time to prepare these cakes the whole Court went
into a room specially prepared for the purpose
and the eunuchs brought in the ingredients —
ground rice, sugar and yeast. These were
mixed together into a sort of dough and then
steamed instead of baked, which caused it to rise
just like ordinary bread, it being believed that
the higher the cake rises, the better pleased are
the gods and the more fortunate the maker.
The first cake turned out fine and we all con-
gratulated Her Majesty, who was evidently

330 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY ]

much pleased herself at the result. Then she
ordered each of the Court ladies to make one,
which we did, with disastrous results, not one
turning out as it should. This heing my first
year, there was some excuse for my failure, but
I was surprised that none of the older Court
ladies fared any better, and on inquiring from
one of them the reason, she repUed: "Why, I
did it purposely, of course, so as to flatter Her
Majesty's vanity. Certainly I could make them
just as well as she, if not better, but it would not
be good policy." After we had all finished mak-
ing our cakes, the eunuchs were ordered to make
the rest, and needless to say they were perfect
in every way.

The next thing was to prepare small plates of
dates and fresh fruits of every kind. These were
deeorated with evergreens, etc., and placed before
the images of Buddha. Then we prepared glass
dishes of candy, which were to be oflFered to the
God of the Kitchen. On the twenty-third day
of the last moon the God of the Kitchen left this
earth to go on a visit to the King of Heaven, to
whom he reported all that we had been doing dur-
ing the past year, returning to earth again on the
last day of the year. Tlie idea of offering him
these sweets was in order that they should stick
CO his mouth and prevent him from telling too
much. When these candies were prepared, we

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 381

all adjourned to the kitchen and placed the offer-
ing on a table specially placed for the purpose.
Turning to the head cook, she said: "You had
better look out now; the God of the Kitchen will
tell how much you have stolen during the past
year, and you will be punished."

The following day another ceremony had to
be gone through, that of writing out the New
Year Greetings for the guests and Court, so in
the morning we all went with Her Majesty to
the Audience Hall, where the eunuchs had pre-
pared large sheets of yellow, red and pale green
paper. Her Majesty took up a large brush and
commenced to write. On some of these sheets
she wrote the character "Shou" (Long Life) and
on others "Fu" (Prosperity) . By and bye, when
she began to feel tired, she would get either one
of the Court ladies or one of the official writers
to finish them for her. When finished, they were
distributed to the guests and different officials,
the ones Her Majesty had written herself being
reserved for her special favorites. These were
given out a few days before the New Year.

Her Majesty received New Year presents
from all the Viceroys and principal officials.
She would examine each present as it was re-
ceived, and if it found favor in her eyes, she
would use it, but if not, she would have it locked
away in one of the storerooms and probably never

SS2 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY J

see it again. These presents consisted of small
pieces of furniture, curios, jewelry, silks, in fact
everything — even clothing. The present sent by
Viceroy Yuan Shih Kai was a yellow satin
robe, embroidered with different colored precious
stones and pearls designed to represent the peony-
flower; the leaves were of green jade. It was
really a magnificent thing, and must have cost
a fortune. The only drawback was its weight;
it was too heavy to wear comfortably. Her
Majesty appeared deliglited with this gown, and
wore it the first day, after which it was discarded
altogether, although I often suggested that she
should wear it, as it was the most magnificent'
gown I ever saw. Once when Her Majesty was
granting an audience to the Diplomatic Corps,
I suggested that she should wear this dress, but
she refused, giving no reason, so nobody outside
the Court has ever seen this wonderful garment.

Another costly present was received from the
Viceroy of Canton, and consisted of four bags
of pearls, each bag containing several thousands.
They were all perfect in shape and color, and
would have brought fabulous prices in Europe
or America. However, Her Majesty had so
many jewels, especially pearls, that she hardly
paid any attention to them beyond remarking
that they were very nice.

The Young Empress and the Court

rt ladies .^^1

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 333

were also expected to give presents to Her Maj-
esty each New Year. These were for the most
part articles that we had made ourselves, such
as shoes, handkerchiefs, collars, bags, etc. My
mother, my sister and myself made presents of
mirrors, perfumes, soaps and similar toilet acces-
sories which we had brought with us from Paris.
These Her Majesty appreciated very much; she
was very vain. The eunuchs and servant girls
gave fancy cakes and other food stuffs.

The presents were so numerous that they filled
several rooms, but we were not allowed to remove
them until Her Majesty gave orders to do so.

The Court ladies also exchanged presents
among themselves, which often led to confusion
and amusement. On this occasion I had received
some ten or a dozen different presents, and when
it came my turn to give something, I decided
to use up some of the presents I had received
from my companions. To my surprise, the next
day I received from one of the Court ladies an
embroidered handkerchief which I immediately
recognized as the identical handkerchief I had
myself sent her as my New Year's present. On
mentioning the fact, this lady turned and said:
"Well, that is rather funny; I was just won-
dering what had made you return the shoes I
sent you." Of course everybody laughed very
heartily, and still further merriment was caused

834 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYl

when, on comparing all the presents, it was'
found that quite half of us had received baci;
our own presents. In order to settle the niatter,
we threw them all into a heap and divided them
as evenly as possible, everybody being satisfied
with the result.

About a week before New Year's day all au-
diences ceased and the seals were put away
mitil after the hohdays. During this time no
business was transacted by Her Majesty.
Everything was much more comfortable and we
could see that Her Majesty also appreciated the
change from bustle to quietness. We had noth'
ing whatever to do but to take things easy uaiHi
tlie last day of the year.

Early on the morning of the thirtieth Her
Majesty went to worship before the Buddhas
and Ancestral Tablets. After this ceremony
was finished, the guests began to arrive, until
by midday, all the guests, numbering about fifty,
were present. The principal guests were: The
Imperial Princess (Empress Dowager's adopted
daughter), Princess Chung (wife of Emperor
Kwang Hsu's brother) , Princesses Shun and Tao
(wives of the Emperor's younger brothers).
Princess Kung (wife of the nephew of the
Imperial Princess), and Prince Ching's family.
All these ladies were frequent visitors to the
Court. Next day many other Princesses,

4
4

i to the [|

not of ^^M

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 335

the Imperial family, but whose titles were hon-
orary titles bestowed by previous rulers, came.
Next, the daughters of the high Manchu officials
and many other people whom I had never seen
before. By midday all the guests had arrived,
and, after being presented to Her Majesty, were
taken to their different apartments and told to
rest a while. At two o'clock in the afternoon
everybody assembled in the Audience Hall, lined
up according to their different ranks and, led
by the Young Empress, kowtowed to Her
Majesty. This was the ceremony Tzu Sui
already referred to, and was simply a last good-
bye to Her Majesty before the New Year set
in. When it was all over, Her Majesty gave
each of us a small purse made of red satin
embroidered with gold, containing a sum of
money. This is to enable each one to commence
the New Year with a kind of reserve fund for
a rainy day, when they would have this money
to fall back upon. It is an old Manchu custom
and is still kept up.

The evening was spent in music and enjoy-
ment, and was carried on right through the
night, none of us going to bed. At Her
Majesty's suggestion we commenced gambling
with dice. Her Majesty providing each of us
with money, sometimes as much as $200. She
told us to be serious about it, and to try and

336 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

win, but of course we took good care not to
win from Her Majesty. When Her Majesty
began to tire, she stopped the game and said:
"Now, all tills money I have won I am going
to throw on the floor, and you girls can scramble
for it." We knew that she wanted to see some
fun, so we fought for it as hard as we could.

At midnight the eunuchs brought into the
room a large brass brazier containing live cbai
coal. Her Majesty pulled a leaf from a lar;
evergreen tree, which had been placed there for
the purpose, and tlirew it into the fire. We each
followed her example, adding large pieces of
resin, which perfumed the whole atmosphere.
This ceremony was supposed to bring good luck
during the coming year.

The next item was making cakes or pies for
New Year's day. On the first of the New Year,
nobody is allowed to eat rice, these cakes taking
its place. They were made of flour paste, with
minced meat inside. While some of us were pre-,
paring these cakes, others were peehng loi
seeds for Her Majesty's breakfast.

It was now well on into the morning hours
and Her Majesty said that she was tired and
would go and rest a wliile. She was not going
to sleep, however, so we could carry on our noise
as much as we liked. This we did for some time,
and on visiting Her Majesty's bedroom, we

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 337

found that she was fast asleep. We then all
repaired to our various rooms and commenced
to make ourselves tidy for the day. As soon
as Her Majesty was awake, we all proceeded
to her bedroom, taking with us plates of apples
(representing "Peace"), olives ("Long Life"),
lotus seeds (Blessing). She suitably acknowl-
edged these gifts and wished us aU good luck
in return. She inquired whether we had been
to bed and, on learning that we had been up all
night, she said that was right. She herself had
not meant to sleep, only to rest a little, but some-
how she had not been able to keep awake, and
gave as a reason that she was an old woman.
We waited on her until she had finished her toilet
and then wished her a Happy New Year. We
then proceeded to pay our respects to the Em-
peror and to the Young Empress. There was
nothing further to be done in the way of cere-
monies, and we therefore all accompanied Her
Majesty to the theatre. The performance took
place on a stage erected in the courtyard, and Her
Majesty closed in one part of her veranda for
the use of the guests and Court ladies. During
the performance I began to feel very drowsy,
and eventually fell fast asleep leaning against
one of the pillars. I awoke rather suddenly to
find that something had been dropped into my
mouth, but on investigation I foimd it was noth-

338 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

ing worse than a piece of candy, which I imme-
diately proceeded to eat. On approaching Her
Majesty, she asked me how I had enjoyed the
candy, and told me not to sleep, but to have a
good time like the rest. I never saw Her
Majesty in hetter humor. She played with us
just like a young girl, and one could hardly rec-
ognize in her the severe Empress Dowager we
knew her to be.

The guests also all seemed to be enjoying
themselves very much. In the evening, after the
theatrical performance was over, Her Majesty
ordered the eunuchs to bring in their instruments
and give us some music. She herself sang sev-
eral songs, and we all sang at intervals. Then
Her Majesty ordered the eunuchs to sing.
Some were trained singers, and sang very nicely,
but others could not sing at all and caused quite
a lot of amusement by their efforts to please Her
Majesty. The Emperor appeared to be the
only one present who was not having a good
time; he never smiled once. On meeting him
outside, I asked him why he looked so sad, but
he only answered: "A Happy New Year"
English, smiled once, and walked away.

Her Majesty rose very early next morning
and proceeded to the Audience Hall to worship
the God of Wealth. We all accompanied her
and took part in the ceremony.

ly. During thft^H

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 889

next few days we did nothing but gamble and
scramble for Her Majesty's winnings. This
was all very nice in its way, until one day one
of the Court ladies began to cry, and accused me
of stepping on her toes in the scramble. This
made Her Majesty angry and she ordered the
offender to go to her room and stay there for
three days, saying that she did not deserve to
be enjoying herself if she could not stand a little
thing like that.

The tenth of the first moon was the birthday
of the Young Empress, and we asked Her Maj-
esty whether we would be allowed to give pres-
ents. She gave us permission to give whatever
presents we might wish to. However, we sub-
mitted all our presents to Her Majesty for her
approval, before giving them to the Young Em-
press, and we had to be very discreet and not
choose anything which Her Majesty might think
was too good. It was very difficult to tell what
to send, as Her Majesty might take a fancy to
any of the presents herself, even though they
might not be of much value intrinsically. In
such a case Her Majesty would tell us that she
would keep it, and to give the Young Empress
something else.

The celebration was very similar to that of the
Emperor's birthday, but not on such an elabo-
rate scale. We presented the Ru Yee to the

340 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

Young Empress and kowtowed to her. She
was supposed to receive these tokens of respect
sitting on her throne, but out of deference to
Her Majesty {we were Her Majesty's Court la-
dies) she stood up. She always was very polite
to us under all circumstanees.

On this day, as on the Emperor's birthday;
the Emperor, Young Empress and Secondary
wife dined together. These were tlie only two
occasions when they did so, always dining sep-
arately at other times. Her Majesty sent twaJ
of her Court ladies to wait upon the Empress, I^
myself being one of them. I was very pleased,
as I wanted to see for myself how they conducted
themselves when together. I went into the
Young Empress' room and informed her that
Her Majesty had ordered us to wait upon them,
to which she simply answered; "Very well." So
we went to the dining room and set the table,
placing the chairs into position. The meal was
much different from what I expected. Instead
of being stiff and serious hke Her Majesty whea
dining they were quite free and easy, and we
were allowed to join in the conversation and par-
take of some of the food and wine. A very pretty
ceremony was gone through at the commence-
ment of the meal. Tlie Emperor and Young
Empress seated themselves, and the Secondary
wife filled their cups with wine and presented it

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 311

H to them in turn as a sign of respect, the Em-
I peror first. When the meal was over we re-
turned to Her Majesty's apartment and told
her that everything had passed off nicely. We
knew very well that we liad been sent simply

tto act as spies, but we had nothing interesting
to tell Her Majesty. She asked if the Emperor
had been very serious and we answered "Yes."

The New Year celebrations terminated with
the Festival of Lanterns on the fifteenth day of
the first moon. These lanterns were of differ-
ent shapes, representing animals, flowers, fruits,
etc., etc. They were made of white gauze,
painted in different colors. One lantern repre-
senting a dragon about fifteen feet long was
fastened to ten poles, and ten eunuchs were re-
quired to hold it in position. In front of this
I dragon a eunuch was holding a lantern repre-
senting a large pearl, which the dragon was
supposed to devour. This ceremony was gone
through to the accompaniment of music.

After the lanterns came a firework display.
These fireworks represented different scenes in

the history of China, grape vines, wisteria blos-
B soms, and many other flowers. It was a very

imposing sight. Portable wooden houses had

been placed near the fireworks from which Her

Majesty and the rest of the Court could see them

L without being out in the cold air. This display

342 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY |

lasted for several hours without a stop, and thou-
sands of firecrackers were set oflf during the
time. Her Majesty seemed to enjoy the noise
very much. Altogether it was a good finish to
the celebrations and we all enjoyed it very much.

The next morning all the guests departed
from the Palace and we re-commenced our ev-
eryday life.

As usual after the guests had departed Her
Majesty began to criticise their mode of dress-
ing, their ignorance of Court etiquette, etc., but
added that she was rather glad, as she didn't want
them to know anything about Court life.

As Spring soon arrived it was time for the
farmers to commence sowing seed for the rice i
crop, and of course there was another ceremony.
The Emperor visited the Temple of Agriculture
where he prayed for a good han-est. Then he
proceeded to a small plot of ground situated in
the temple and after turning the earth over with
a hand plow he sowed the first seeds of the
season. This was to show the farmers that their
labors were not despised and that even the Em-
peror was not ashamed to engage in this work. .
Anybody could attend this ceremony, it being j
quite a public affair, and many farmers were J
present.

About this same time the Yoimg Emprewl
went to see the silkworms and watch for the eggs'l

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS 343

to be hatched. As soon as they were out, the
Young Empress gathered mulberry leaves for
the worms to feed upon and watched them until
they were big enough to commence spinning.
Each day a fresh supply of leaves were gathered
and they were fed four or five times daily. Sev-
eral of the Court ladies were told off to feed the
worms during the night and see that they did not
escape. These silkworms grow very rapidly and
we could see the difference each day. Of course
when they became full grown they required more
food and we were kept busy constantly feeding
them. The Young Empress was able to tell by
holding them up to the light when they were ready
to spin. If they were transparent then they
were ready, and were placed on paper and
left there. When spinnning the silkworm does
not eat, therefore all we had to do was to watch
that they did not get away. After spinning for
four or five days their supply of silk becomes ex-
hausted and they shrivel up and apparently die.
These apparently dead worms were collected by
the Young Empress and placed in a box where
they were kept until they developed into moths.
They were then placed on thick paper and left
there to lay their eggs.

If left to themselves, the silkworms when
ready for spinning will spin the silk around their
bodies until they are complelely covered up,

344 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEX C:

gradually forming a cocoon. In order to del
mine when they have finished spinning it
customary to take the cocoon and rattle it IM
the ear. If the worm was exhausted you couli
plainly hear the hody rattle inside the cocoon.
The cocoon is then placed in boiling water until
it becomes soft. This, of course, kiUs the worm.
In order to separate the sUk a needle is used to
pick up the end of the thread wliich is then wound
on to a spool and is ready for weaving. A few
of the cocoons were kept until the worms had
turned uito moths, which soon ate their way out
of the cocoons when they were placed on sheets
of paper and left to lay their eggs, which are
taken away and kept in a cool place until the
following Spring, when the eggs are hatched
and become worms.

When the silk had all been separated we t<
it to Her IHajesty for inspection and approvi
On this particular occasion Her Majesty or-
dered one of the eunuchs to bring in some silk
which she herself had woven when a young girl
in the Palace, and on comparing it with the new
silk it was found to be just as good in every way
although many years had passed since it was made.

All this was done with the same object as the
Emperor sowing the seeds, viz. : — to set the peo-
ple a good example and to encourage them in
their work.

:nea

»VM^^

CHAPTER NINETEEN

THE SEA PALACE

This year we had a very hot spring and Her
Majesty was desirous of getting back again to
the Sea Palace. However, as war had already
been declared between Russia and Japan it was
thought best to remain in the Forbidden City
until things were more settled. Her Majesty
was very much worried over this war and spent
most of her time in offering prayers to the dif-
ferent divinities for the welfare of China and we,
of course, were expected to join her. Things
were very monotonous about this time and noth-
ing particular occurred until the beginning of
the second moon. By this time Her Majesty
was quite sick of staying in the Forbidden City
and said that no matter what happened she would
remove the Court to the Sea Palace, where Miss
Carl could get along and finish the portrait which
had been hanging on for nearly a year. So on
the sixth day of the second moon we moved back
to the Sea Palace. Everything looked fresh and
green and many of the trees had commenced to
blossom. Her Majesty took us around the lake
345

346 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY"!

and we were in such good spirits that Her Maj-
esty remarked that we acted more like a lot of
wild animals escaped from a menagerie thaa
human heings. She was much hrighter now»
but said that she would he happier still to get to
the Summer Palace.

Miss Carl was summoned to the Palace, and
Her Majesty visited her and asked to see the
portrait. She again asked me how long it would
be before it was finished, and I told her that un-
less she gave a little more of her time to posing
it might not be finished for quite a long time.
After a lot of consideration Her Majesty finally
agreed to give Miss Carl five minutes each day
after the morning audience, but that she desired
it to he distinctly understood that she did not
intend to pose for anj-thing but the face. She
accordingly sat for two mornings, hut on the
third morning she made an excuse saying that
she was not feehng well. I told her that Miss
Carl could not proceed further miless she sat for
the face, so, although she was very angry, she
gave Miss Carl a few more sittings until the face
was finished. She absolutely refused to sit again
whether it was finished or not, saying that she
would have nothing more to do with the portrait.
I myself sat for the remainder of the portrait,
viz.: — for Her Majesty's dress, jewels, etc., and
so by degrees the portrait was completed.

THE SEA PALACE 347

When Her Blajesty learned that the portrait
was nearing completion she was very much
pleased, and I thought it a good opportunity to
again broach the subject of payment. Her
Majesty asked me whether I really thought it
necessary to pay cash for the portrait and how
much. I told her that as painting was Miss
Carl's profession, if she had not been engaged on
painting Her Majesty's portrait she would most
probably liave been engaged on otlier similar
work for which she would have received compen-
sation, and that therefore she would naturally
expect to be paid even more handsomely in this
instance. It was difficult to make Her Majesty
understand this and she asked if I was quite cer-
tain that Miss Carl would not be offended by an
offer of money, also Mrs. Conger who had pre-
sented her. I explained that in America and
Europe it was quite customary for ladies to
earn their own linng either by painting, teach-
ing or in some other similar maimer, and
that it was no disgrace but rather the opposite.
Her Majesty seemed very much surprised to
leam this, and asked why Miss Carl's brother
did not support her himself. I told Her Maj-
esty that Miss Carl did not desire him to pro-
vide for her, besides which he was married and
had a family to support. Her Majesty gave
it as her opinion that this was a funny kind of

<HI

348 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

civilization. In China when the parents were
dead it was the duty of the sons to provide for
their unmarried sisters until such time as they
married. She also said that if Chinese ladies
were to work for their hving it would only set
people talking about them. However, she
promised to speak with Her Ministers about
paying Miss Carl, and I felt somewhat re-
lieved as there seemed to be a probability of
something satisfactory being arranged after
aU.

The twelfth day of the second moon was i
anniversary of another interesting ceremony,^
viz.: — the birthday of the flowers and trees.
After the morning audience we all went into the
Palace grounds, where the eunuchs were waiting
with huge rolls of red silk. These we all com-
menced to cut into narrow strips about two
inches wide and tliree feet long. When we had
cut sufficient Her Majesty took a strip of red
silk and another of yellow silk which she tied
round the stem of one of the peony trees (in
China the peony is considered to be the queen
of flowers). Then aU the Court ladies, eunuchs
and servant girls set to work to decorate every
single tree and plant in the grounds with red silk
ribbons, in the same manner as Her Majesty had
done. This took up nearly the entire morning
and it made a very pretty picture,

THE SEA PALACE 349

bright costumes of the Court ladies, green trees
and beautiful flowers.

We then went to a theatrical performance.
This represented all the tree fairies and flower
fairies celebrating their birthday. The Chinese
believe that all the trees and flowers have their
own particular fairies, the tree fairies being men
and the flower fairies being women. The cos-
tumes were very pretty and were chosen to blend
with the green trees and flowers which were on
the stage. One of the costumes worn by a lotus
fairy was made of pink silk, worked so as to
represent the petals of the flower, the skirt being
of green silk to represent the lotus leaves. When-
ever this fairy moved about the petals would
move just as though wafted by the breeze, hke
a natural flower. Several other costumes rep-
resenting difl'erent flowers were made in the
same manner. The scene was a woodland dell,
surrounded with huge rocks perforated with
caves, out of which came innumerable small
fairies bearing decanters of wine. These small
fairies represented the smaller flowers, daisies,
pomegranate blossoms, etc. The result can be
better imagined than described. AU the fairies
gathered together and drank the wine, after
which they commenced to sing, accompanied by
stringed instnunents, played very softly. The
final scene was a very fitting ending to the per-

860 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

formance. It represented a smaU rainbow which
gradually descended until it rested on the rocks;
then each fairy in turn would sit upon the rain-
bow which rose again and conveyed them
through the clouds into Heaven. This com- _
pleted the celebration and we all retired to oin
rooms.

On the fourteenth day of the second moon
(March 2, 1904), I completed my first year
at Court. I had quite forgotten this fact until
Her Majesty reminded me of it. She asked
whether I was comfortable and happy where I
was or did I long to return to Paris. I answered
truly that although I had enjoyed myself while
in France still I preferred the life of the Court,
it was so interesting, besides which I was in my
own native land and among all my friends and
relations, and naturally I preferred that to hving
in a strange land. Her Majesty smiled and said
she was afraid tliat sooner or later I would tire
of the life in the Palace and fly away again across
the ocean. She said that the only way to make
sure of me was to marry me off. She again
asked me what was my objection to getting mar-
ried; was I afraid of having a mother-in-law, or
what was it? If that was all, I need not worry,
for so long as she was alive there was nothing to
be afraid of. Her Majesty said that even if I ,
were married it would not be necessary for me toJ

THE SEA PALACE 361

stay at home all the time, but that I would be
able to spend my time in the Palace as usual.
Continuing, she said : "Last year when this mar-
riage question came up I was willing to make al-
lowances as you had been brought up somewhat
differently from the rest of my Court ladies, but
do not run away with the idea that I have for-
gotten all about it. I am still on the lookout
for a suitable husband for you." I simply an-
swered as before — that I had absolutely no de-
sire to marry, but that I wanted to stay where
I was and live at the Court so long as Her Maj-
esty was wilhng to have me there. She made
some remark about my being stubborn and said
that I should probably change my mind before
long.

During the latter part of the second moon
Miss Carl worked very hard to get the portrait
finished and Her Majesty again consulted her
book in order to select a lucky day on which to
put the final touches to the picture. The 19th
of April, 1904, was chosen by Her Majesty as
the best time, and JMiss Carl was duly notified.
Miss Carl most emphatically stated that it was
quite impossible to finish the portrait properly
by the time named, and I told Her JIajesty what
Miss Carl said, explaining that there were many
small finishing touches to be added and I sug-
gested it would be better to give Miss Carl a few

35S TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITYl

days longer if possible. However, Her Majesty-
said that it must be finished by four o'clock on
the 19th day of April, and therefore there was
nothing further to be said.

About a week before the time fixed for com-
pletion Her Majesty paid a visit to the studio
to finally inspect the picture. She seemed very
much pleased with it, but still objected to her face
being painted dark on one side and light on the
other. As I have said before, I had explained
that tliis was the shading, but Her Majesty in-
sisted on my teUing Miss Carl to make both sides
of her face alike. This led to a pretty hot discus-
sion between Miss Carl and myself but she finally
saw that it was no use going against Her Maj-
esty's wishes in the matter, so consented to make
some shght alteration. Happening to catch
sight of some foreign cliaracters at the foot of
the painting Her Majesty inquired what they
were and on being informed that they were sim-
ply the artist's name, said: "Well, I know for-
eigners do some funny things, but I think this
about the funniest I ever heard of. Fancy put-
ting her own name on my picture. This will
naturally convey the impression that it is a por-
trait of Miss Carl, and not a portrait of myself at
all." I again had to explain the reason for this,
saying that it was always customary for foreign
artists to write their names at the foot of any pic-

^^f

THE SEA PALACE 353

ture they painted, whether portrait or otherwise.
So Her Majesty said she supposed it was all
right, and would have to remain, but she looked
anything but satisfied with it.

By working practically all night and all day,
Miss Carl managed to get the portrait finished by
the time stipulated, and Her Majesty arranged
that Mrs. Conger and the other ladies of the Dip-
lomatic Corps should come to the Palace and see
the portrait. This was quite a private audience
and Her Majesty received them in one of the
small Audience Halls. After the usual greet-
ings Her Majesty ordered us to conduct the la-
dies to the studio, which we did. Her Majesty
bidding them good-bye and remaining in her own
apartments. The Young Empress in accordance
with instructions from Her Majesty, accom-
panied us to the studio, and acted as hostess.
Everybody expressed great admiration for the
portrait and it was voted a marvellous likeness.
After inspecting the picture we all adjourned for
refreshments. The Young Empress sat at the
head of the table and asked me to sit next to her.
Shortly after everybody was seated a eunuch
came and asked the Young Empress to inform
these ladies that the Emperor was shghtly indis-
posed and was unable to be present. I inter-
preted this, and everybody appeared satisfied.
As a matter of fact the Emperor was quite well,

804 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CF

but we had forgotten all about him. And so t
guests departed without seeing him on this <
casion.

On reporting everything to Her Majesty as
usual, she asked what they thought of the por-
trait, and we told her that they had admired it
very much. Her Majesty said: "Of course they
did, it was painted by a foreign artist." She
didn't appear to be very much interested and was
quite cross about something, which caused me
great disappointment after all the trouble Miss
Carl had taken to finish the portrait. Her Maj-
esty then remarked that 5Iiss Carl had taken a
long time to get the portrait finished, and asked
why nobody had reminded her to inform the
Emperor about the audience, being particularly
angry with the head eunuch on tliis occasion.
Her Majesty said that as soon as she remem-
bered, she inmiediately sent a eunuch to make
excuses, as the ladies might very well think that
something had happened to the Eroperor and it
might cause talk. I told her that I explained
to them that the Emperor was not well and they
evidently thought nothing further of his absence.

By the next day the carpenters in the Palace
had finished the frame for the portrait and wheal
it had been properly fitted Her Majesty
dered my brother to take a photograph of i
This photograph turned out so well that

THE SEA PALACE 956

Majesty said it was better than the portrait it-
self.

The picture being now quite finished, Miss
Carl prepared to take her leave, which she did
a few days later, having received a handsome
present in cash from Her Majesty in addition
to a decoration and many other presents as re-
muneration for her services. For quite a long
time after Miss Carl had left the Palace I felt
very lonelj', as during her stay I had found her
a genial companion and we had many things in
common to talk about. Her Majesty noticed
that I was rather quiet, and asked me the cause.
She said: "I suppose you are beginning to miss
your friend, the lady artist." I did not care to
admit that this was so, for fear she might think
me ungrateful to herself, besides which I knew
she did not like the idea of my being too friendly
with foreigners. So I explained to Her Maj-
esty that I always did regret losing old friends
but that I would get used to the change very
soon. Her Majesty was very nice about it and
said she wislied that she was a little more sen-
timental over such email things, but that when
I got to her age I should be able to take things
more philosophically.

After Sliss Carl had left the Court, Her
Majesty asked me one day: "Did she ever ask
you much about the Boxer movement of 1900?"

356 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

I told her that I knew verj' little of the Boxer
movement myself, as I was in Paris at the time
and I could not say very much. I assured her
that the lady artist never mentioned the subject
to me. Her Majesty said: "I hate to mention
about that affair and I would not like to have
foreigners ask my people questions on that sub-
ject. Do you know, I have often thought that
I am the most clever woman that ever lived and
others cannot compare with me. Although I
have heard much about Queen Victoria and read
a part of her life which someone has translated
into Chinese, still I don't think her life was half
so interesting and eventful as mine. My life is
not finished yet and no one knows what is go-
ing to happen in the future. I may surprise
the foreigners some day with something extraor-
dinary and do something quite contrary to any-
thing I have yet done. England is one of
great powers of the world, but this has not
been brought about by Queen Victoria's absolute
rule. She had the able men of parliament back
of her at all times and of course they discussed
everything until the best result was obtained,
then she would sign the necessary documents
and really had nothing to say about the policy of
the country. Now look at me. I have 400,000,-
000 people, all dependent on my judgment.
Although I have the Grand Council 1

THE SEA PALACE 357

with, they only look after the different appoint-
ments, but anj-thing of an important nature I
must decide myself. What does the Emperor
know? I have been very successful so far, but
I never dreamt that the Boxer movement would
end with such serious results for China. That
is the only mistake I have made in my life. I
should have issued an Edict at once to stop the
Boxers practising their belief, but both Prince
Tuan and Duke Lan told nie that they firmly
believed the Boxers were sent by Heaven to en-
able China to get rid of all the undesirable and
hated foreigners. Of course they meant mostly
missionaries, and you know how I hate them
and how very religious I always am, so I thought
I would not not say anything then but would
wait and see what would happen. I felt sure
they were going too far as one day Prince Tuan
brought the Boxer leader to tlie Sunmier Palace
and summoned all the eunuchs into tlie courtyard
of the Audience Hall and examined each eunuch
on the head to see if there was a cross. He said,
'This cross is not visible to you, but I can identify
a Christian by finding a cross on the head.'
Prince Tuan then came to my private Palace
and told me that the Boxer leader was at the
Palace Gate and had found two eunuchs who
were Christians and asked me what was to be
done. I immediately became very angry and

358 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

told him that he had no right to bring any Boxers
to the Palace without my permission; but he said
this leader was so powerful that he was able to
kill all the foreigners and was not afraid of the
foreign guns, as all the gods were protecting
him. Prince Tuan told me that he had wit-
nessed this himself. A Boxer shot another with
a revolver and the bullet hit him, but did not
harm Iiim in the least. Then Prince Tuan sug-
gested that I hand these two eunuchs supposed
to be Clu-istians to the Boxer leader, which I did.
I heard afterwards that these two eunuchs were
beheaded right in tlie country somewhere near
here. This chief Boxer came to the Palace
next day, accompanied by Prince Tuan ani
Duke Lan, to make all the eunuchs burn incense
sticks to prove that they were not Christians.
After that Prince Tuan also suggested that we
had better let the chief Boxer come every day
and teach the eunuchs their belief; that nearly
all of Peking was studying with the Boxers. The
next day I was very much surprised to see all
my eunuchs dressed as Boxers. They wore red
jackets, red turbans and yellow trousers. I was
sorry to see aU my attendants discard their offi-
cial robes and wear a funny costume like thatt^
Duke Lan presented me with a suit of Box«
clothes. At that time Yung Lu, who was tl
head of the Grand Council, was ill and aski

ear.^^

THE SEA PALACE 359

leave of absence for a month. While he was
sick, I used to send one of the eunuchs to see
him every day, and that day tlie eunuch returned
and informed me that Yung Lu was quite well
and would come to the Palace the next day,
although he still had fifteen days more leave. I
was puzzled to know why he should give up the
balance of his leave. However, I was very anx-
ious to see him, as I wished to consult him about
this chief Boxer. Yung Lu looked grieved
when he learned what had taken place at the Pal-
ace, and said that these Boxers were nothing but
revolutionaries and agitators. They were trying
to get the people to help them to kill the for-
eigners, but he was very much afraid the result
would be against the Government. I told him
that probably he was right, and asked him what
should be done. He told me that lie would talk
to Prince Tuan, but the next day Prince Tuan
told me that he had had a fight with Yung Lu
about the Boxer question, and said that all of
Peking had become Boxers, and if we tried to
turn them, they would do all they could to kill
everyone in Peking, including the Court; that
they (the Boxer party) had the day selected to
kill all the foreign representatives; that Tung
Fou Hsiang, a very conservative General and
one of the Boxers, had promised to bring his
troops out to help the Boxers to fire on the Lega-

360 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITV |

tions. When I heard this I was very much wor-
ried and anticipated serious trouhle, so I sent
for Yung La at once and kept Prince Tuan with
me. Yung Lu came, looking very much wor-
ried, and he was more so after I had told him
what the Boxers were going to do. He imme-
diately suggested that I should issue an Edict,
saying that these Boxers were a secret society
and that no one should beheve their teaching,
and to instruct the Generals of the nine gates
to drive all the Boxers out of the city at once.
When Prince Tuan heard this he was very angry
and told Yung Lu tliat if such an Edict was
issued, the Boxers would come to the Court and
kill everybody. When Prince Tuan told me
this, I thought I had better leave everjiihing to
him. After he left the Palace, Yung Lu said
that Prince Tuan was absolutely crazy and that
he was sure these Boxers would be the cause of
a great deal of trouble. Yung Lu also said that
Prince Tuan must be insane to be helping the
Boxers to destroy the Legations ; that these Box-
ers were a very common lot, without education,
and they imagined the few foreigners in China
were the only ones on the earth and if they were
kiUed it would be the end of them. They forgot
how very strong these foreign countries are, and
that if the foreigners in China were all killed,
thousands would come to avenge their death.

I
I

THE SEA PALACE 861

Yung Lu assured me that one foreign soldier
could kill one hundred Boxers without the slight-
est trouble, and begged me to give him instruc-
tions to order General Nieh, who was afterwards
killed by the Boxers, to bring his troops to pro-
tect the Legations. Of course I gave him this
instruction at once, and also told him that he
must see Prince Tuan at once and Duke Lan to
tell them that this was a very serious afifatr and
that they had better not interfere with Yung
Lu's plans. Matters became worse day by day
and Yung Lu was the only one against the
Boxers, but what could one man accomplish
against so many? One day Prince Tuan and
Duke Lan came and asked me to issue an Edict
ordering the Boxers to kill all the Legation peo-
ple fii'st and then all remaining foreigners. I
was very angry and refused to Issue this Edict.
After we had talked a very long time. Prince
Tuan said that this must be done without delay,
for the Boxers were gettmg ready to fire on the
Legations and would do so the very next day.
I was furious and ordered several of the eunuchs
to drive him out, and he said as he was going out :
'If you refuse to issue that Edict, I will do it
for you whether you are willing or not,' and he
did. After that you know what happened. He
issued these Edicts unknown to me and was
responsible for a great many deaths. He found

362 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN cn

that he could not carry his plans through and
heard that the foreign troops were not very far
from Peking. He was so frightened that he
made us all leave Peking." As she finished say-
ing this, she started to cry, and I told her that
I felt very sorrj' for her. She said: "You need
not feel sorry for me for what I have gone
through; but you must feel sorry that my fair
name is ruined. That is the only mistake I have
made in my whole life and it was done in a mo-
ment of weakness. Before I was just like a
piece of pure jade; everyone admired me for
what I have done for my country, but the jade
has a flaw in it since this Boxer movement and
it will remain there to the end of my Hfe. I
have regretted many, many times that I had
such confidence in, and believed that wicked
Prince Tuan ; he was responsible for everything."
By the end of the third moon Her Majesty
had had enough of the Sea Palace and the Court
moved into tlie Sunmier Palace. This time we
travelled by boat as it was very beautiful
weather. On reaching the water-gates of the
Palace we found everj'thing just lovely and the
peach blossoms were in full bloom. Her Maj-
esty plainly showed how glad she was to be back
once more and for the time being seemed to harei
forgotten everything else, even the war.

CHAPTER TWENTY

CONCLUSION

My second year at the Palace was very much
the same as the first. We celebrated each anni-
versary and festival in the same way as before:
the usual audience was held each morning by
Her Majesty, after whicli the day was given up
to enjoyment. Amongst other things Her Maj-
esty took great interest in her vegetable gardens,
and superintended the planting of the diiferent
seeds. When vegetables were ready for pull-
ing, from time to time, all the Court ladies
were supplied with a kind of small pruning fork
and gathered in the crop. Her Majesty seemed
to enjoy seeing us work in the fields, and when
the fit seized her she would come along and
help. In order to encourage us in this work,
Her Majesty would give a small present to tlie
one who showed the best results so we naturally
did our best in order to please her, as much as
for the reward. Another hobby of Her Maj-
esty's was the rearing of chickens, and a certain
number of birds were allotted to each of the
Court ladies. We were supposed to look after

364 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CF

these ourselves and the eggs had to be taken to~
Her Majesty every morning. I could not un-
derstand why it was that my chickens gave less
eggs than any of the others until one day my
eunuch informed me that he had seen one of the
other eunuchs stealing the eggs from my hen
house and transferring them to another, in order
to help his mistress to head the list.

Her Majesty was very particular not to en-
courage untidyness or extravagance among the
Court ladies. On one occasion she told me to
open a parcel which was lying in her room. I
was about to cut the string when Her Majesty
stopped me and told me to untie it. This I man-
aged to do after a lot of trouble, and opened the
parcel. Her Majesty next made me fold the
paper neatly and place it in a drawer along with
the string so that I would know where to find it
should it be wanted again. From time to time
Her Majesty would give each of us money for
our own private use and whenever we wanted to
buy anything, say flowers, handkerchiefs, shoes,
ribbons, etc., tliese could be bought from the
servant girls who used to make them in the Pal-
ace and we would enter each item in a small note
book supplied by Her Majesty for the purpose.
At the end of each month Her Majesty exam-
ined our accounts and in case she considered that
we had been extravagant she would give us ^J

CONCLUSION S66

good scolding, while on the other hand, if we
managed to show a good balance she would com-
pliment us ou our good management. Thus un-
der Her Majesty's tuition we learned to be
careful and tidy against such time as we might be
called upon to look after homes of our own.

About this time my father began to show signs
of breaking down and asked for permission to
withdraw from public life. However, Her
Majesty would not hear of this and decided to
give him another six months vacation instead.
It was his intention to go to Shanghai and see
the family physician, but Her Majesty did not
approve of this, maintainmg that her own doc-
tors were quite as good as any foreign doctor.
These doctors therefore attended him for some
time, prescribing all kinds of different concoc-
tions daily. After a while he seemed to pick up a
little but was still unable to get about on account
of having chronic rheumatism. We therefore
again suggested that it would be better for him
to see his own doctor in Shanghai, who under-
stood my father thoroughly, but Her Slajesty
could not be made to see it in that light. She
said that what we wanted was a httie patience,
that the Chinese doctors might be slow, but they
were sure, and she was convinced they would com-
^ pletely cure my father very soon. The fact of
^h the matter was she was afraid that if my father

366 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

went to stay in Shanghai the rest of the family
would want to be there with him, which was not
in her progranuue at all. So we decided to re-
main in Peking unless my father showed signs of
getting worse.

In due course the time arrived on which it
been arranged to hold the Spring Garden Pi
for the Diplomatic Corps, and as usual one
was set apart for the Ministers, Secretaries and
members of the various Legations, and the fol-
lowing day for their wives, etc. This year very
few guests attended the Garden Party but
among those who did come were several stran-
gers. About half a dozen ladies from the
Japanese Legation came with Madame Uehida,
wife of the Japanese Minister. Her Majesty
was always very pleased to see this lady whom
she very much admired on account of her extreme
politeness. After the usual presentation we
conducted the ladies to luncheon, showed them
over the Palace gi-ounds, after which we wished
them good-bye and they took their leave. We
reported everytliing to Her Majesty, and as
usual were asked many questions. Among the
guests there was one lady (English so far as
I could make out) dressed in a heavy tweed
travelling costume, having enormous pockets,
into which she thrust her hands as though it were,
extremely cold. She wore a cap of the si

I
I
I

CONCLUSION

867

material. Her Majesty asked if I had noticed
this lady with the clothes made out of "rice
bags," and wasn't it rather unusual to be pre-
sented at Court in such a dress. Her Majesty
wanted to know who she was and where she came
from. I replied that she certainly did not be-
long to any of the Legations as I was acquainted
with everybody there. Her Majesty said that
whoever she was she certainly was not accustomed
to moving in descent society as she (Her Maj-
esty) was quite certain that it was not the thing
to appear at a European Court in such a cos-
tume. "I can tell in a moment," Her Majesty
added, "whether any of these people are de-
sirous of showing proper respect to me, or
whether they consider that I am not entitled to
it. These foreigners seem to have the idea that
tlie Chinese are ignorant and that therefore they
need not be so particular as in European Society.
I think it would be best to let it be understood
for the future what dress should be worn at the
different Coiu*t Functions, and at the same time
use a certain amount of discretion in issuing in-
vitations. In that way I can also keep the mis-
sionary element out, as well as other undesirables.
I hke to meet any distinguished foreigners who
may be visiting in China, but I do not want any
common people at my Court." I suggested that
the Japanese custom could be followed, viz.: to

368 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

issue proper invitation cards, stipulating at the
foot the dress to be worn on each particular oc-
casion. Her Majesty thought this would nxa
the case and it was decided to introduce a s
rule in China.

Whenever the weather permitted, Her Maj-
esty would pass quite a lot of her time in the
open air watching the eunuchs at work in the
gardens. During the early Spring the lotus
plants were transplanted and she would take
keen interest in this work. All the old roots had
to he cut away and the new bulbs planted in
fresh soil. Although the lotus grew in the shal-
lowest part of the lake (the West side) it was
necessary for the eunuchs to wade into the water
sometimes up to their waists in order to weed out
the old plants and set the young ones. Her
Majesty would sit for hours on her favorite
bridge (The Jade Girdle Bridge) and superin-
tend the eunuchs at their work, suggesting from
tune to time as to how the bulbs were to be
planted. This work generally took three or four
days, and the Court ladies in attendance would
stand beside Her Majesty and pass the time
making fancy tassels for Her Majesty's cush-
ions, in fact doing anything so long as we did
not idle.

It was during the Spring that Yuan Shih Kai
paid another visit to the Palace, and a

CONCLUSION 369

subjects discussed was the Russo-Japan war.
He told Her Majesty tliat it was developing into
a very serious affair and that he feared China
would be the principal sufferer in the long run.
Her Majesty was very much upset by this news,
and mentioned that she had been advised by one
of the censors to make a present to the Japanese
of a large quantity of rice, but had decided to
take no action whatever in the matter, which re-
solve Yuan Shih Kai strongly supported.

I was still working each day translating the
various newspaper reports and telegrams rela-
ting to the war and one morning, seeing a para-
graph to the effect that Kang Yu Wet (Leader
of the Reform Movement in China in 1898) had
arrived at Singapore from Batavia, I thought it
might interest Her JMajesty and so translated it
along with the rest. Her JSIajesty inmiediately
became very much excited which made me feel
frightened as I did not know what could be the
matter. However, she explained to me that this
man had caused all kinds of trouble in China,
that before meeting Kang Yu Wei the Emperor
had been a zealous adlierent to tJie traditions of
his ancestors bat since then had plainly shown
his desire to introduce reforms and even Chris-
tianity into the country. "On one occasion,"
continued Her Majesty, "he caused the Em-
peror to issue instructions for the Summer Pal-

370 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

ace to be surrounded by soldiers so as to keep
me prisoner until these reforms could be put
into effect, but through the faithfulness of Yung
Lu, a member of the Grand Council, and Yuan
Shih Kai, Viceroy of Chihli, I was able to frus-
trate the plot. I immediately proceeded to the
Forbidden City, where the Emperor was then
staying and after discussing the question with
him he replied that he realized his mistake and
asked me to take over the reins of government
and act in his stead."

{The result of this was, of course, the Edict
of 1898 appointing the Empress Dowager as
Regent of China.)

Her Majesty had immediately ordered the
capture of Kang Yu Wei and his followers, but
he had managed to effect his escape and she had
heard nothing further about him until I trans-
lated this report in the newspaper. She seemed
relieved, however, to know where he was, and
seemed anxious to hear what he was doing. She
suddenly became very angry again and asked
why it was that the foreign governments offered
protection to Chinese political agitators and crim-
inals. Why couldn't they leave China to deal
with her own subjects and mind their own busi-
ness a little more? She gave me instructions to
keep a lookout for any further news of this gen-
tleman and report to her immediately, but I made

CONCLUSION

S71

up my mind that in any case, I would not men-
tion anything ahout him again and so the matter
gradually died away.

During one of our visits to the Sea Palace
Her Majesty drew attention to a large piece of
vacant ground and said that it had formerly
been the site of the Audience Hall which had
been destroyed by fire during the Boxer trouble.
Her Majesty explained that this had been
purely an accident and was not deliberately de-
stroyed by the foreign troops. She said that it
had long been an eyesore to her as it was so
ugly, and that she had now determined to build
another Audience Hall on the same site, as the
present Audience Hall was too small to accom-
modate the foreign guests when they paid their
respects at New Year. She therefore com-
manded the Board of Works to prepare a model
of the new building in accordance with her own
ideas, and submit it for her approval. Up to that
time all the buildings in the Palace Grounds
were typically Chinese but this new Audience
Hall was to be more or less on the foreign plan
and up to date in every respect. This model
was accordingly prepared and submitted to Her
Majesty. It was only a small wooden model but
was complete in every detail, even to the pattern
of the windows and the carving on the ceilings
and panels. However, I never knew anything

372 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

to quite come up to Her Majesty's ideas, and
this was no exception. She critieise'd the model
from every standpoint, ordering this room to be
enlarged and that room to be made smaller : this
window to be moved to another place, etc., etc.
So the model went back for reconstruction.
When it was again brought for Her Majesty's
inspection everybody agreed that it was an im-
provement on the first one, and even Her Maj-
esty expressed great satisfaction. The next
thing was to find a name for the new building
and after serious and mature consideration it was
decided to name it Hai Yen Tang (Sea Coast .
Audience Hall). Building operations were J
commenced immediately and Her Majesty took
great interest in the progress of the work. It
had already been decided that this Audience Hall
was to be furnished throughout in foreign style,
with the exception of the throne, which, of course»
retained its Manchu appearance. Her Majesty
compared the different styles of furniture with
the catalogues we had brought with us from
France and finally decided on the Louis Fif-
teenth style, but everything was to be covereda
with Imperial Yellow, with curtains and carpetal
to match. ^Vhen everything had been selected
to Her Majesty's satisfaction, my mother asked
permission to defray the expense herself and

CONCLUSION

make a present of tliis furniture. This Her
Majesty agreed to and the order was accordingly-
placed with a well-known Paris firm from whom
we had purchased furniture when in France.
By the time the building was completed the
furniture had arrived, and it was quickly in-
stalled. Her Majesty went to inspect it and, of
course, had to find fault as usual. She didn't
seem at all pleased with the result of the experi-
ment and said that after all a Chinese huilding
would have been tlie best as it would have had a
more dignified appearance. However, the thing
was finished and it was no use finding fault now,
as it could not be changed.

During the Summer months I had plenty of
leisure time and devoted about an hour each day
to helping the Emperor with his Enghsh. He
was a most intelligent man with a wonderful
memory and learned very quickly. His pronun-
ciation, however, was not good. In a very short
time he was able to read short stories out of an
ordinary school reader and could write from dic-
tation fairly well. His handwriting was excep-
tionally fine, while in copying old Enghsh and
ornamental characters, he was an expert. Her
Majesty seemed pleased that the Emperor had
taken up this study, and said she thought of tak-
ing it up herself as she was quite sure she would

374 TWO YEARS IX THE FORBIDDEN CITY ]

learn it verj- quickly if she tried. After two les-'
sons she lost patience, and did not mention the
matter again.

Of course these lessons gave me plenty of op-
portunity to talk with His Majestj-, and on one
occasion be ventured the remark that I didn't
seem to have made much progress with Her
Slajesty in the matter of reform. I told him
that many things had been accomplished since
my arrival at Court, and mentioned the new^
Audience Hall as an instance. He didn't ap-
pear to think that anything worth talking about,
and advised me to give up the matter altogether.
He said when the proper time arrived — if it ever
did arrive — then I might be of use, but ex-
pressed grave doubts on the subject. He also
enquired about my father and I told him that
unless his health improved verj' soon it would be
necessary for us to leave the Court for a while
at any rate. He replied that although be should
ver>' nmch regret such a necessitj', he really be-
heved that it would be for the best. He said he
felt certain that I should never be able to settle
down permanently to Court life after spending
so many years abroad, and for his part would
put no obstacles in the way of my leaving the
Court if I desired to do so.

Her Slajesty had ^ven me permission to visit
my father twice everj' month, and eveiythin^

CONCLUSION 375

appeared to be going along nicely until one day
one of Her Majesty's servant girls told me that
Her Majesty was trying to arrange another
marriage for me. At first I did not take any
notice of this, but shortly afterwards Her Maj-
esty informed me that everything was arranged
and that I was to be married to a certain Prince
whom she had cliosen. I could see that Her
Majesty was waiting for me to say something,
so I told her that I was very much worried at
that time about my father and begged her to
allow the matter to stand over for the time being
at any rate. This made Her Majesty very
angry, and she told me that she considered me
very ungrateful after all she had done for me.
I didn't reply, and as her Majesty did not say
anything more at the time, I tried to forget
about it. However, on my next visit home, I
told my father all about it, and as before he
was strongly opposed to such a marriage. He
suggested that on my return to the Palace I
should lay the whole matter before Li Lien
Ying, the head eunuch, and explain my position,
for if anybody could influence Her Majesty, he
was the one. I, therefore, took the first oppor-
tunity of speaking to him. At first he appeared
very reluctant to interfere in the matter, and
said he thought I ought to do as Her Majesty
wished, but on my stating that I had no desire

376 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN Cr

to marry at all, but was quite willing to remaii
at Court in my present position, he promised
do his best for me. I never heard anj-thing fur-
ther about my marriage, eitlier from Her Maj-
esty or Li Lien Ying, and tlierefore concluded
that he had been able to arrange tlie matter satL»<
factorily.

The Summer passed without anything further
important occurring. During tlie eighth moon
the bamboos were cut down and here again tiie
Court ladies were called upon to assist, our
work being to carve designs and characters on
the cut trees, Her Slajesty assisting. These
were afterwards made into chairs, tables
other useful articles for Her Slajesty's
house. During the long Autumn evenings Her'
Majesty would teach us Chinese history and poe-
try and every tenth day would put us through,
an examination in order to find out how mui
we had learned, prizes being awarded for pi
ficiency. The yoimger eunuchs also took part
in these lessons and some of their answers to Her
Majesty's questions were very amusing. If
Her Majesty were in a good humor she wouli
laugh with the rest of us, but sometimes
would order them to be punished for their ig-
norance and stupiditj'. However, as they were
quite accustomed to being punished they did not

hese^^^
loe-

ler
If '

CONCLUSION

S7T

seem to mind very much and forgot all about it
the next minute.

As Her Majesty's seventieth birthday was
approaching the Emperor proposed to celebrate
this event on an unusually grand scale, but Her
Majesty would not give her consent to this pro-
posal on account of the war trouble, for fear
people might comment on it. The only differ-
ence, therefore, between this birthday and for-
mer ones was that Her Majesty gave presents
to the Court, in addition to receiving them.
These included the bestowal of titles, promotions
and increases in salary. Among the titles con-
ferred by Her Majesty, my sister and myself re-
ceived the title of Chiin Chu Hsien (Princess).
These titles, however, were confined to members
of the Court, and were granted specially by the
Empress Dowager. Similar promotions to out-
side officials were always conferred by the Em-
peror. It was proposed to hold the celebrations
in the Forbidden City as it was more suited
for such an important event. However, Her
Majesty did not like this idea at all, and gave
instructions that the Court should not be moved
until three days before the 10th of the tenth
moon, the date of her birthday. This entailed a
lot of unnecessary work as it necessitated dec-
orating both the Summer Palace and the For-

378 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

bidden City. Everything was hurry and bustle.
To add to this, it snowed very heavily during the
few days previous to the tenth. Her Majesty
was in a very good mood. She was very fond
of being out in the snow and expressed a wish
to have some photographs taken of herself on
the hillside. So my brother was commanded to
bring his camera, and took several very
pictures of Her Majesty.

On the seventh day the Court moved into
Forbidden City and the celebrations commenced.
The decorations were beautiful; the Court-
yards being covered with glass roofs to keep out
the snow. The theatres were in full swing each
day. The actual ceremony, which took place on
the tenth, did not differ in any respect from pre-
vious ones. Everything passed off sniootlily, and
the Court removed again into the Sea Palace.

While at the Sea Palace we received news
that my father's condition was becoming serious,
and he again tendered his resignation to Her
Majesty. She sent her eunuchs to find out ex-
actly what the matter was, and on learning that
he was really very ill, accepted his resignation.
Her Majesty agreed that it might be better for
him to go to Shanghai and see if the foreign
physicians could do him any good. She said
she supposed it would be necessary for my
mother to accompany him to Shanghai, but dii

CONCLUSION 879

not consider it serious enough to send my sister
and myself along also. I tried to explain that
it was my duty to go along with him as he might
be taken worse and die before I could get down
to see him again, and I begged Her Majesty to
allow me to go. She offered all kinds of objec-
tions but eventually, seeing that I was bent on
going, she said: "Well, he is your father, and I
suppose you want to be with him, so you may go
on the understanding that you retxirn to Court
as soon as ever possible." We did not get away
until the middle of the eleventh moon, as Her
Majesty insisted on making clothes for us and
other preparations for our journey. Of course
we could do nothing but await Her Majesty's
pleasure.

When everything was ready Her Majesty re-
ferred to her book to choose a suitable day for
our departure, and fixed on the thirteenth as
being the best. We therefore left the Palace
for our own house on the twelfth. We kow-
towed and said good-bye to Her Majesty', thank-
ing her for her many kindnesses during our stay
with her. Everybody cried, even Her Maj-
esty. We then went to say good-bye to the
Emperor and Young Empress. The Emperor
simply shook hands and wished us "Good Luck"
in English. Everybody appeared sorry to see
us leave. After standing about for a long time

880 TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CD

Her Majesty said it was no use wasting any
more time and that we had better start. At the
gate the head eunuch bade us good-bye and we
entered our carriage and drove to my father's
house, our own eunuchs accompanj-ing us to the
door. We found everything prepared for our
journey, and early the next morning we took
train to Tientsin where we just managed to catch
the last steamer of the season leaving for Shang-
hai. As it was, the water was so shallow that
we ran aground on the Taku bar.

On arrival in Shanghai my father immediately
consulted his physician who examined him and
prescribed medicine. The trip itself seemed to
have done him a lot of good. I very soon be-
gan to miss my life at Court, and, although I had
many friends in Shanghai and was invited to
dinner parties and dances; still I did not seem
to be able to enjoy myself. Everything seemed
different to what I had been accustomed to in
Peking and I simply longed for the time when
I should be able to return to Her Majesty.
About two weeks after our arrival, Her Majesty
sent a special messenger down to Shanghai to see
how we were getting along. He brought us
many beautiful presents and also a lot of med-
icine for my father. We were very glad to see
him. He informed us that we were missed very
much at Court and advised us to return

CONCLUSION

soon as it was possible for us to do so. As my
father began to show signs of improvement he
suggested that there was no further need for me
to stay in Shanghai, and thought it better that
I should return to Peking and resume ray duties
at Court. I therefore returned early in the New
Year. The river was frozen and I had to travel
by boat to Chinwantao, from thence by rail to
Peking. It was a most miserable journey and
I was very glad when it was over. Her Majesty
had sent my eunuchs to the station to meet me
and I at once proceeded to the Palace. On
meeting Her Majesty we both cried again by
way of expressing our happiness. I informed
her that my father was progressing favorably
and that I hoped to be able to remain with her
permanently.

I resumed my previous duties, but this time
I had neither my sister for a companion nor my
mother to chat with and everything appeared
changed. Her Majesty was just the same, how-
ever, and treated me most kindly. Still, I was
not comfortable, and heartily wished myself
back again in Shanghai. I stayed at the Court,
going through pretty much the same daily routine
as before until the second moon (March 1905),
when I received a telegram summoning me to
Shanghai as my father had become worse, and
was in a critical condition and wished to see

88« TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CIT

me. I showed Her Majesty the telegram and
waited for her decision. She commenced by
telling me that my father was a very old man,
and therefore his chances of recovery were not
so great as if he were younger, finally wind-
ing up by telling me that I could go to him at
once. I again wished everybody good-bye, fully
expecting to return very soon; but this was not
to be. I found my father in a very dangerous
condition, and after a lingering illness, he died
on the 18th of December, 1905. Of course we
went into mourning for one hundred days which
in itself prevented my returning to the Court.

While in Shanghai I made many new friends
and acquaintances and gradually began to realize
that after all, the attractions of Court life had
not been able to eradicate the influences which
had been brought to bear upon me while in Eu-
rope. At heart I was a foreigner, educated
in a foreign country, and, having already met
my husband the matter was soon settled and I
became an American citizen. However, I often
look back to the two years I spent at the Court
of Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager of
China, the most eventful and happiest days of
my girlhood.

Although I was not able to do much towards
influencing Her Majesty in the matter of re-

CONCLUSION 888

form, I stni hope to live to see the day when
China shall wake up and take her proper place
among the nations of the world.

THE END

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